The International Institute for Sustainable Development
(IISD) presents
CLIMATE-L NEWS
ISSUE 9
January 27 to 16 February, 2003
Compiled by Richard Sherman rsherman@iisd.org
Edited by Kimo Goree kimo@iisd.org
Published by the International Institute for Sustainable
Development (IISD) http://www.iisd.org/
Editor's note: Welcome to the ninth issue of Climate-L
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GENERAL NEWS
1) NUCLEAR ENERGY'S PLACE USURPED BY WIND AND WAVES, The
Observer, February 16, 2003
2) RABO INDIA UNVEILS CARBON ADVISORY SERVICES, Business
Standard, February 15, 2003
3) EU AND US IDENTIFY JOINT RESEARCH INITIATIVES TO COMBAT
CLIMATE CHANGE, Cordis, February 14, 2003
4) ELSAM BEHIND POLAND'S BIGGEST WIND FARM, The Copenhagen
Post, February 14, 2003
5) INDO-US MOVE ON CLIMATE, Business Standard, February
14, 2003
6) INDIA EVINCES INTEREST IN RANET TECHNOLOGY, The Hindu,
February 14, 2003
7) DUTCH BANK, GOETZE IN PACT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY
PROJECTS, Times of India, February 14, 2003
8) MANKIND IN DANGER OF DESTROYING ITSELF, SAYS MEACHER,
Oldham Evening Chronicle, February 14, 2003
9) ENERGY SUMMIT FOR CAPITAL PLANNED, The Copenhagen Post,
February 14, 2003
10) TROPICAL DEFORESTATION AND GLOBAL WARMING: SMITHSONIAN
SCIENTIST CHALLENGES RESULTS OF RECENT STUDY,
Smithsonian Institution via Science Daily, February 14,
2003
11) US FIRMS SET GREENHOUSE GAS TARGETS IN BUSH PLAN,
Planet Ark, February 14, 2003
12) FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASES
12%, GreenBiz.com, February 14, 2003
13) EU MUST CLAMP DOWN ON CAR AIR CONDITIONING, Edie weekly
summaries, February 14, 2003
14) WILD COAL FIRES ARE A 'GLOBAL CATASTROPHE', New
Scientist, February 14, 2003
15) GOV'T TO LAUNCH ENVIRONMENTAL FUEL TAX IN 2005,
Mainichi Shimbun, February 14, 2003
16) AIR TRAVEL TO KNOCK UK CO2 EMISSIONS OFF TARGET, Planet
Ark, February 14, 2003
17) U.S. INDUSTRY PLEDGES VOLUNTARY GREENHOUSE GAS CUTS ,
ENS, February 13, 2003
18) GLOBAL TEMPERATURES STAY HIGH IN 2002 – UK, Planet Ark,
February 13, 2003
19) STATES TARGET GREENHOUSE GASES, Stateline.org, February
13, 2003
20) EXXON CEO BACKS MANDATORY EMISSIONS REPORTS, Planet
Ark, February 13, 2003
21) ENERGY IN THE SPOTLIGHT, The Guardian, February 13,
2003
22) CLIMATE LINKED TO RURAL POVERTY, ENS, February 13, 2003
23) EU ENVIRONMENT COMMISSIONER MARGOT WALLSTRÖM COMMENTS
ON VOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS BY US INDUSTRY TO REDUCE
GREENHOUSE GASES, EU, February 13, 2003
24) HAGEL SEEKING A LARGE INCREASE IN RENEWABLE FUELS, The
Independent, February 13, 2003
25) CONOCO CHAIRMAN ADVOCATES N. AMERICAN ENERGY PACT,
Planet Ark, February 13, 2003
26) 'CLEAN' PROJECTS LIKELY TO BYPASS INDIA, Economic
Times, February 12, 2003
27) SWISS CEMENT INDUSTRY AGREES TO CO2 CUTS, Pressetext,
February 12, 2003
28) UK 'MAY FAIL ON CLIMATE CUTS', BBC, February 12, 2003
29) TEMPERATURE RISE ANOTHER CORAL ENEMY, The Courier Mail
(Queensland,Australia), February 12, 2003
30) BRITAIN FACES DROUGHT AND FLOODS BY THE 22ND CENTURY,
Independent, February 12, 2003
31) RED SQUIRRELS EVOLVING WITH GLOBAL WARMING, New
Scientist, February 12, 2003
32) A DEEP-SIX FIX; COULD BURYING FOSSIL-FUEL EMISSIONS
SAVE THE CLIMATE? US News, February 10, 2003
33) A FADING GREEN HOPE FOR CLIMATE, US News, February 10,
2003
34) ASIAN POLLUTION CLOUD CHANGING CLIMATE, STUDY SAYS,
National Geographic, February 10, 2003
35) ARAB STATES CLAIM CO2 TARGETS COULD CAUSE SLUMP,
Independent, February 9, 2003
36) MCCREEVY URGED TO HONOUR PLEDGE ON CARBON TAX, Examiner
(Ireland), February 8, 2003
37) RUSSIA: WILD CARD IN KYOTO PACT, Wired, February 8,
2003
38) GERMAN NUCLEAR POWER EXIT JARS WITH CO2 GOALS – DATF,
Planet Ark, February 7, 2003
39) RUSSIA URGED TO RATIFY KYOTO PROTOCOL: WWF AND
GREENPEACE CALL ON EU HEADS OF STATE FOR SWIFT ACTION,
WWF, February 7, 2003
40) PREMATURE DASH FOR HYDROGEN WOULD NOT BE BENEFICIAL FOR
ENVIRONMENT, Edie weekly summaries, February 7, 2003
41) GREENHOUSE GAS WATCHDOG IS TOO GREEN, SAYS REVIEW,
Sydney Morning Herald, February 6, 2003
42) HAZY VISION, INEXPLICABLE INDIAN TACTICS AT ENVIRONMENT
MEET, Financial Express, February 6, 2003
43) MINISTERS FIGHT OVER POSSIBLE $1B KYOTO FUND, The
Ottawa Citizen, February 6, 2003
44) FOREST FOR THE FUTURE Daily Post, February 6, 2003
45) WIND POWERS WORLD WILDLIFE FUND HEADQUARTERS, ENS,
February 5, 2003
46) COMMISSION ACTS TO IMPROVE MONITORING OF GREENHOUSE GAS
EMISSIONS, EU, February 5, 2003
47) WINNIPEG COMMODITY EXCHANGE EYES EMISSIONS TRADING,
Reuters, February 5, 2003
48) GLOBAL WARMING MAY WORSEN MERCURY POLLUTION – UN,
Planet Ark, February 4, 2003
49) INDUSTRY MAY SOFTEN TO AUSTRALIAN KYOTO STANCE, ABC,
February 4, 2003
50) NEW TECHNOLOGY COULD CUT GREENHOUSE GASES, Number 10,
February 4, 2003
51) EARTH A SOLUTION TO AIR POLLUTION? SCIENTISTS CONSIDER
INJECTING GREENHOUSE GASES INTO GROUND, Chicago
Tribune, February 3, 2003
52) COTTON TESTS GREENHOUSE CREDENTIALS, Cotton World,
February 2
53) POWER STATIONS THREATEN PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE WITH
MERCURY POISONING GLOBAL STUDY OF THIS HAZARDOUS HEAVY
METAL RELEASED, UNEP, February 3, 2003
54) WEST FLAYED FOR BIASED ECO POLICIES, Gulf News,
February 2, 2003
55) STUDY: WARMING WORSENED DROUGHT, USA Today, January 31,
2003
56) CLIMATE PARTNERSHIP WITH ROMANIA MOOTED, The Copenhagen
Post, January 31, 2003
57) AIR POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE – TACKLING BOTH
PROBLEMS IN TANDEM, United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe, January 31, 2003
58) U.S. TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL FUSION RESEARCH PROJECT,
Reuters, January 30, 2003
59) BP SHOWCASES EMISSION REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY IN ABU
DHABI, Mena Report, January 30, 2003
60) ICE CAP 'SENSITIVE' TO GREENHOUSE GAS, Stuff, January
29, 2003
61) SHRINKING ARCTIC ICE TO OPEN SHIPPING SHORT-CUTS,
Reuters, January 29, 2003
62) CHEAP COAL A HURDLE TO CHINA NATGAS GROWTH-EXPERT,
Reuters, January 28, 2003
63) AIR QUALITY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND PROTECTION OF THE OZONE
LAYER: COMMISSION PURSUES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST SIX
MEMBER STATES, EU, January 27, 2003
OPINIONS/EDITORIALS
64) CLIMATE RIGHT FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WEATHER by
Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr, Los Angeles Times, February
15, 2003
65) END OF THE WORLD NIGH - IT'S OFFICIAL by Michael
Meacher, The Guardian, February 14, 2003
66) A BACK DOOR TO KYOTO? by H. Sterling Burnett,
Washington Post, February 13, 2003
67) A GREENER BUSH, The Economist, February 13, 2003
68) STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT (US), Office of the Press
Secretary, February 12, 2003
69) WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE? Time, February
7, 2003
70) A MATTER OF CHOICE, NOT DESTINY by Md. Asadullah Khan,
Daily Star, February 7, 2003
71) UNITED STATES AND EUROPEAN UNION JOINT MEETING ON
CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, US
State Department, February 7, 2003
72) OUTSIDE VIEW: THE ROAD FROM KYOTO by Michael Renner,
UPI, February 6, 2003
73) WITH 2002 BEHIND US, IT'S TIME FOR OUR ANNUAL
ASSESSMENT OF THE TOP CLIMATE CHANGE STORIES OF THE
YEAR by Leonie Haimson, Grist, January 31, 2003
74) CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER RESOURCES by John Onu Odihi,
Brunei Online, January 31, 2003
75) U.S.-RUSSIAN JOINT STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
DIALOGUE, US State Department, January 17, 2003
GENERAL NEWS
1) NUCLEAR ENERGY'S PLACE USURPED BY WIND AND WAVES
The Observer
February 16, 2003
Internet:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,896762,
00.html
No more nuclear power stations will be built in the
foreseeable future as the Government turns to wind and
wave energy to provide Britain's future electricity
needs. In a seismic shift in policy, Ministers have
agreed to back renewable energy as the best way of
meeting the UK's targets to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. The long-awaited energy white paper will
plunge the nuclear industry into fresh crisis by
rejecting demands to build new plants. Until now,
government support for renewables has been patchy due to
concern that Britain would not meet its carbon emissions
targets.
The white paper, which sets out the UK's future energy
strategy, will be unveiled by Patricia Hewitt, the
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, later this
month. Sources who have seen its final draft - agreed by
cabinet Ministers last week - confirmed that nuclear
power had been superseded by renewables as the
Government's preferred way of providing power in the
future. 'What is clear is that the Government does not
want to build a new generation of nuclear power stations
if renewables and energy efficiency can deliver,' said
one.
However, plans to produce a fifth of the UK's electricity
from renewable sources by 2020 have been controversially
abandoned. The nuclear industry had wanted to build
another 10 stations; however, Ministers are increasingly
concerned about their potential as a terrorist target and
safety concerns persist on the reprocessing of nuclear
waste. Confidence in the nuclear industry has failed to
recover since the £650 million bail-out of British
Energy, the privatised nuclear power generator,
underlined concerns over its long-term viability. The
future of the nuclear industry will be reviewed in 2005
alongside plans for a major increase in funding to the
renewable sector.
However, sources said the next two years would be spent
examining improvements in 'green' technology in order to
create a watertight case against expanding nuclear power
plants. Bryony Worthington, energy expert for Friends of
the Earth, said: 'We are delighted that the white paper
has rejected the nuclear industry's calls for more
assistance.' In addition to pledging support for wind
and wave energy, the white paper will also place heavy
emphasis on reducing carbon dioxide emissions through
energy efficiency. The preferred option is to reduce heat
lost in homes through boilers and heating systems with a
campaign to encourage homeowners to install better
insulation.
A European-wide cap on carbon emissions from coal-fired
power stations will be brought in during 2005.
Environmentalists also welcomed the fact that demands by
the nuclear industry to help build a new generation of
nuclear plants by streamlining planning policy had been
ignored. The white paper also represents a major snub to
the national academy of sciences, which has urged the
government to end its self-imposed moratorium on building
nuclear power stations. Defence analysts have warned that
nuclear power stations remain a key - and vulnerable -
terrorist target. A report by the influential thinktank
close to New Labour, the IPPR, suggested a plane flown
into the intermediate level waste stores at Sellafield
could lead to 30,000 deaths within two days.
2) RABO INDIA UNVEILS CARBON ADVISORY SERVICES
Business StandardFebruary 15, 2003
Internet: http://www.business-
standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=2&story=8134
Rabo India, the 100 per cent of the Netherlands-based,
$300 million Rabo Bank, has launched carbon advisory
services in India. The bank will arrange sale of
certified emissions reductions (CERs) under the clean
development mechanism from projects in India to the Dutch
government. It has also tied up with Winrock
International India to offer comprehensive advisory
services to clients. It will offer financial and
technical resources to projects which take up reduction
of the harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the
environment. Rabo Bank International had recently signed
an agreement with the Dutch government to contract 10
million tonne of GHG emission reductions from sustainable
energy projects in developing countries over a 2-year
period.
The credits are to be delivered over a 10-year period.
“India is one of the major potential sources of CERs
identified by Rabo Bank. However, countries like Brazil,
Argentina and Philippines also offer comparable
advantages,” said Rana Kapoor, chief executive officer
and managing director of Rabo India Finance. In the
first sale of it’s kind in the country, it is currently
arranging for sale of CERs from the Goetze India (GI)
Group to the Netherlands. The GI group is selling credits
for its 30.6 mw wind energy installations in Maharashtra
and Karnataka. It is expected to deliver half a million
tonne of CERs over a 10-year period. The tentative price
for the sale is $4.50 per tonne. “Sale of CERS will
enhance the financial viability of the project,” said
Kapoor, since cost of technology, especially in the non-
conventional energy sector in a country like in India, is
fairly high.
Supporting him, T C Prabhu, executive director, GI Power
Corporation, said that in case of biomass, the carbon
credits are 7 times those in wind energy installations.
“At $4.50 a tonne, a third of the cost of the project
comes in by way of payments for carbon credits,” he
added. Developed countries are buying carbon credits in
anticipation of the Kyoto Protocol becoming effective.
The Protocol aims at reducing GHG emissions from
developed countries (annex I countries) by 5.2 per cent
compared with the level of emissions in 1990. Developed
countries have to reduce emissions by 515 million tonne
and have the freedom to reduce their own emissions or to
buy carbon credits from emission abatement in non-annex I
countries. The Protocol, which was recently ratified by
Canada, will become effective once Russia ratifies it.
Once ratified, the demand for emission reduction credits
will push up the price from the current range of $3-5 per
tonne. India ratified the Protocol in October 2002 and is
generally viewed as a major potential source of carbon
credits.
3) EU AND US IDENTIFY JOINT RESEARCH INITIATIVES TO
COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE
Cordis
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.eubusiness.com/cgi-
bin/item.cgi?id=103384&d=1&h=240&f=56&dateformat=%25o%20%
25B%20%25Y
Following the conclusion of the first bilateral 'US-EU
joint meeting on climate change science and technology
research', the two sides have announced plans to initiate
collaborative projects in six areas of climate research.
The joint meeting took place in Washington from 5 to 6
February, following an invitation from Under Secretary of
State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky to European
Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin.
The delegations identified suitable cooperative research
activities in the following areas: carbon cycle research,
aerosol-climate interactions, feedbacks and climate
sensitivity, integrated observation systems and data,
carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen technology and
infrastructure. Within these areas, specific initiatives
will include studies on the influence of aerosols on
clouds, climate and the water cycle in sensitive regions
such as the Mediterranean, and the joint development of
integrated observation systems to provide the data needed
for climate change research.
Other non-greenhouse gas emitting energy sources, for
example nuclear and renewable energies, although not
discussed in detail, were mentioned as worthy for
cooperation in future discussions. Both the US and the
EU agreed to designate points of contact to coordinate
the development of the projects, and to monitor progress
once activities are underway. The two sides also agreed
to review the progress of their cooperation at the next
joint meeting, which could take place in Italy later this
year.
4) ELSAM BEHIND POLAND'S BIGGEST WIND FARM
The Copenhagen Post
February 14, 2003
Internet: http://cphpost.periskop.dk/default.asp?id=28157
A Danish-Polish Joint Implementation project under the
Kyoto Agreement brings Poland its largest windmill park
ever, thanks to Elsam's expertise. Danish energy supplier
Elsam has constructed Poland's largest windmill park
ever, and is now producing energy for Polish consumers.
The turbines, located in the Northwestern corner of
Poland, have doubled the country's wind power capacity,
and produce enough power to supply 25,000 Polish
households.
Poland's power production is primarily based on coal and
lignite-fuelled plants. But under recent Polish
legislation, an increasing portion of the nation's power
consumption will have to be covered under renewable
energy forms. The windmill park is the first project in
the so-called ‘Joint Implementation’ directive under the
Kyoto Agreement. Under the terms of the directive, two
countries can implement joint projects to reduce
emissions of carbon dioxide, and each record a share of
the reduction on their own CO2 reports. The Danish and
Polish governments are expected to enter a formal
framework agreement for Joint Implementation.
With yearly production of approximately 65 million
kilowatt-hours, the 15 Elsam windmills will reduce Polish
emissions by 45,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 300 tons of
sulphur dioxide, and 100 tons of nitrogen. ‘Elsam has
built up considerable know-how from the erection of our
Danish windmill parks, and we've been able to transfer
that expertise to Poland. I hope it will contribute to
supporting the development of environmentally sustainable
energy forms in the country,’ said Bjarne Henning Jensen,
director of Elsam's Project and Facility department.
5) INDO-US MOVE ON CLIMATE
Business Standard
February 14, 2003
Internet: http://www.business-
standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=19&story=8077
The US will help India in dealing with the effects of
climate change. The two countries will cooperate with
each other in assessing the potential consequences of
climate variability. And the US will assist India in a
project to devise adaptive strategies to such change.
Both countries will work on methods to improve resource
management in climate-affected sectors thus increasing
their resilience to such natural phenomenon. Further,
the countries will jointly work on dissemination of
climate-related information in rural areas. The scope of
work will also include hydrogen technology, renewable
energy and energy efficiency improvement.
6) INDIA EVINCES INTEREST IN RANET TECHNOLOGY
The Hindu
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/06141403.htm
New Delhi, Feb. 14. (PTI): India today evinced interest
in a US- proposed pilot project of modern communication
technologies to disseminate climate-related information
in rural areas. The proposal was put up at a meeting
here between the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and
Forests, K C Mihsra and a visiting delegation from US
Department of State, led by Susan Gordon, when they
identified certain areas for bilateral cooperation, an
official release said here.
The US proposal centred on a pilot project to foster
dissemination of agro-meterological information on
monsoon in rural areas through development of RANET (Radi
and Internet Technologies for Communication of Climate-
related Information for Rural Development). This bilateal
cooperation is proposed in view of the growing importance
of adpative technologies after the Delhi Declaration on
Climate Change and Sustainable Development accorded high
priority to such technologies.
7) DUTCH BANK, GOETZE IN PACT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY
PROJECTS
Times of India
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/ar
ticleshow?artid=37411735
NEW DELHI: Rabobank International has entered into an
agreement with the Dutch government to contract 10
millions tonnes of greenhouse gas emission reductions
from sustainable energy projects in developing countries.
Its first move is a tie-up with the Goetze India Group
for renewable energy projects in Punjab and Karnataka.
Under the international framework on checking global
warming, developed countries are supposed to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide by
an average of 5 per cent over the 1990 levels. One of
the ways they can do this is by investing money and
technology in clean projects in developing countries,
thus winning emission reduction credits in a complicated
formula. It's called the clean development mechanism
(CDM). This is yet to come into force but governments and
companies which have spotted the potential have begun to
move bilaterally. The Netherlands, for instance, wants to
achieve half its reductions away from its shores - it's
cheaper and less trouble. The only thing stopping
sections of Indian industry from joining the bandwagon is
the price on offer per tonne of carbon.
But on Thursday, Rabo India launched its carbon advisory
business in India, tying up with an NGO, Winrock
International, to cover the financial and technical
aspects of the business. Rabo India's Somak Ghosh says
they are interested in wind, hydel and biomass in the
renewable energy sector. Prices in this nascent,
politically uncertain market are yet to firm up, but
Goetze Group's T C Prabhu thinks it's worth it. He says
they went into windpower in 1998 to capitalise on the
fiscal incentives and recovered their capital cost in two
years. At about $4 a tonne of carbon now, they spot huge
business opportunities for windpower in Karnataka and
biomass in Punjab, particularly the latter.
The aim is to cash in on whatever is on offer, beating
back competition from developing countries such as
Brazil, Argentina and the Philippines and be in position
when the CDM market opens up with the ratification of the
1997 Kyoto Protocol. This would bring the trade
mechanisms into full play and perhaps push up prices. But
when this will happen is still an open question. On the
same day as business showed interest, an American
delegation met an inter-ministerial government team to
discuss areas of cooperation on climate change. These
include ways of adapting to it, renewable energy and
energy efficiency improvement. Both the ministries of
power and non-conventional energy sources are keen to use
CDM to get their projects up and going.
8) MANKIND IN DANGER OF DESTROYING ITSELF, SAYS MEACHER
Oldham Evening Chronicle
February 14, 2003
Internet: http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/NEWSF05.html
The human race is in real danger of wiping itself out,
Environment Minister Michael Meacher said today. “Making
the change needed to avoid that fate is perhaps the
greatest challenge we have ever faced,” he said. “There
is a lot wrong with our world, but it is not as bad as
many people think — it is actually worse.” The Oldham
West and Royton MP detailed the major problems facing the
world as global warming leads to storms and flooding,
lack of fresh water, the destruction of forests and
farming land, the overuse of natural resources and a
rising population. “The ultimate concern is that if
runaway global warming occurred, temperatures could
spiral out of control and make our planet uninhabitable,”
he said. Temperatures are set to rise by 5.8C this
century, compared with 0.6 per cent in the last, he said.
The number of people affected by flooding increased from
seven million in the 1960s to 150 million now, while the
number of people hit by cyclones and hurricanes has risen
eightfold to 25 million a year in the past 30 years. He
said that mass extinctions had taken place on Earth five
times in the last 540 million years, one of them
involving the destruction of 96 per cent of the species
then living. “But while that was previously the result of
asteroid strikes or intense glaciation, this is the first
time in the history of the Earth that species themselves
by their own activities are at risk of generating their
own demise,” Mr Meacher said.
9) ENERGY SUMMIT FOR CAPITAL PLANNED
The Copenhagen Post
February 14, 2003
Internet: http://cphpost.periskop.dk/default.asp?id=28136
Denmark is tapped to host a major conference on
sustainable energy later this year. In September or
October of this year, Denmark will play host to a major
international conference on sustainable energy. The
meeting, a follow-up to last autumn's UN Summit in
Johannesburg, is designed to expand international
cooperation on renewable, CO2-free energy initiatives.
Environment Minister Hans Christian Schmidt reported the
news last Friday from Nairobi, Kenya, where he had spent
the past several days participating in supervisory
meetings under UNEP, the UN Environmental Programme.
Schmidt offered to host the upcoming conference, tapped
as a preparatory meeting to an even larger world
conference on renewable energy in Germany in 2004. ‘Many
countries actually support expanding renewable energy
efforts, but we have various approaches to how this
technology can be developed further. We need to exchange
information and share our experience in this area,’
Schmidt said.
During last autumn's Johannesburg summit, the EU
countries raised a proposal to increase the percentage of
renewable energy used worldwide from 14 to 15 percent by
2010, but the proposal failed due to opposition from the
US and the oil-producing countries. As a result, the
summit failed to produce a binding agreement for
sustainable energy forms. Instead, the EU forged a
coalition with like-minded nations, all of which have
pledged to promote the development of renewable energy
and take their own programmes a step further than
Johannesburg's non-binding recommendations. Besides the
EU and its candidate-nations, signatories to the pledge
include Brazil, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Iceland,
Norway, Switzerland, Uganda, and several island states
acutely threatened by global warming. Another dozen
countries are expected to join the partnership in the
near future.
10) TROPICAL DEFORESTATION AND GLOBAL WARMING:
SMITHSONIAN SCIENTIST CHALLENGES RESULTS OF RECENT STUDY
Smithsonian Institution via Science Daily
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/02/030214074147
.htm
Late last year, Frédéric Achard and colleagues published
a controversial article in which they contended that
earlier estimates of worldwide tropical deforestation and
atmospheric carbon emissions were too high. In the
February 14 issue of Science, Philip Fearnside from the
National Institute for Amazonian Research in Brazil, and
William Laurance from the Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute in Panama argue that the Achard study contains
serious flaws rendering its conclusions about greenhouse
gases unreliable. The article in question ("Determination
of deforestation rates of the world's humid tropical
forests", Science, vol. 297, pages 999-1002), which
received extensive press coverage, asserted that only
about 0.6 to 1.0 billion tons of greenhouse gases (most
carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide) were being produced
by the razing and felling of tropical forests each year.
This estimate is considerably lower than those of earlier
studies, which estimated up to 2.4 billion tons annually.
Fearnside and Laurance list seven serious errors or
limitations of the Achard study, which, they say,
collectively lead to a major underestimate of greenhouse
gas emissions. Among the errors they identify is that the
Achard team failed to include drier tropical forests--
which are also being rapidly cleared and burned--in their
estimate. Other concerns include underestimating the
amount of biomass--and hence the amount of carbon--
contained in tropical forests. The study assumes that
regenerating forests on abandoned lands will re-absorb
large amounts of atmospheric carbon. In fact, such
forests are often re-cleared after a few years. The study
also fails to consider the effects of important
greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide, which
are also produced by deforestation.
Fearnside and Laurance further assert that the effects on
global warming of selective logging, habitat
fragmentation, and other types of forest degradation are
not included in the Achard study. Selective logging, for
example, does not cause deforestation per se but produces
hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions
each year. "When you look at all these factors, you can't
help but conclude that their numbers are too small," said
Laurance. "They're suggesting that tropical deforestation
and degradation accounts for only about a tenth of the
global production of greenhouse gases. Personally, I'd
argue that their estimate is two to three times too low."
Each year, humans produce seven to eight billion tons of
greenhouse gas emissions, which are considered the major
cause of global warming. Most emissions are produced by
the burning of fossil fuels and tropical deforestation,
but the relative importance of these two sources remains
controversial.
11) US FIRMS SET GREENHOUSE GAS TARGETS IN BUSH PLAN
Planet Ark
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19831/
story.htm
WASHINGTON - U.S. utilities, automakers, oil refiners and
other industries said this week they will voluntarily
trim carbon dioxide emissions, drawing praise from the
Bush administration and sighs from environmentalists who
say it is not enough to reduce heat-trapping gases.
Representatives of a dozen industries told a news
conference they would participate in the new Climate
Vision Program being overseen by the Department of Energy
and other federal agencies. "These initiatives are a
first step in what we expect to be an ongoing engagement
with these and other sectors of our economy in the years
ahead," President George W. Bush said in a statement.
The United States is the world's biggest emitter of
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, blamed by
scientists for raising the Earth's temperature. The White
House refused to participate in the international Kyoto
Treaty to reduce emissions, saying it would be too
costly. Instead, the government opted for a program that
encourages U.S. firms to set their own targets for carbon
dioxide and decide if they meet them. The Sierra Club,
Environmental Defense and other green groups say a
voluntary effort will do little to curb emissions. They
back a Senate bill that would require steep cuts in
carbon dioxide.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the voluntary
program aims to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas "intensity" by
18 percent over the next decade. Intensity refers to the
output of emissions compared to U.S. economic output.
Christine Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection
Administration (EPA), said there would be no immediate
reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. "It's not going
to get any smaller immediately, but we know that the
overall impact is going to be over time and will get
smaller," Whitman told reporters.
UTILITIES PLAN 3-5 PCT CUTS
Utilities including American Electric Power Co. Inc.
(AEP.N), which runs the largest U.S. fleet of coal-fired
plants, pledged to collectively cut their carbon output
intensity by 3 to 5 percent by the end of 2010. Utilities
account for 40 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions,
more than any other industry sector. But a cut in
intensity could actually mean that carbon dioxide
emissions from utilities would increase by 16 percent
over the period, said Jeremy Symons, an analyst with the
National Wildlife Federation. That is because while
utilities seek to reduce carbon dioxide output per unit
of power generated, overall emissions would likely
increase, Symons said.
On the electric front, the effort is headed by the Edison
Electric Institute, whose 40 members include the largest
U.S. utilities. The reduction targets are an aggregate
for all members, and some utilities may come in above or
below them. A spokesman for Edison Electric Institute
defended the targets as "fairly ambitious," and said the
plan would slow carbon dioxide growth with the aim of
eventually reversing it. Oil refiners, another major
source of carbon dioxide, set a goal of a 10 percent
reduction in emission intensity by 2012. Linn Draper,
president of America Electric Power (AEP) and head of the
Business Roundtable of the nation's largest 150
companies, said banks and other industries could also
help reduce greenhouse gases. Semiconductor manufacturers
and mining, cement and aluminum makers are also taking
part in the voluntary plan.
GIFT TO UTILITIES?
Environmental groups criticized the voluntary program as
a gift to utilities from the Bush administration, which
last year relaxed pollution limits on old, coal-burning
power plants. Carl Pope, director of the Sierra Club,
said the program's focus on greenhouse gas intensity was
a "shady accounting scheme" and that emissions would
continue to rise. Green groups and Senate Democrats back
legislation reintroduced this week that would cut carbon
dioxide emissions by 21 percent by 2009. The bill,
offered by Sen. Jim Jeffords, a Vermont Independent,
Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman and others, would impose
the first limits on carbon dioxide. The Bush
administration has also proposed a plan to reduce
emissions of other pollutants by 2018.
12) FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GASES
12%
GreenBiz.com
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=23894
WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 13, 2003 - The American Forest &
Paper Association, representing the U.S. forest, paper
and wood products industry, has pledged to reduce its
greenhouse gas intensity as part of the president’s
voluntary plan to address climate change. The association
“applauds the President’s initiative to address climate
change through enhanced research in technology and
science, incentives and voluntary efforts,” said AF&PA
president and CEO W. Henson Moore in a letter to the
Administration committing his group to the plan. The plan
recognizes that “only a strong economy will allow us to
make the investments we need” to reduce our emissions,
Moore wrote.
AF&PA members have under way a number of programs to try
to meet the president’s climate objectives, and have
collectively pledged to pursue them. Among them are
inventorying and reporting on greenhouse gases, enhancing
sequestration in managed forests and products, improving
technologies and energy efficiency, using co-generation,
and increasing use of renewable energy and recycling.
“Based on preliminary calculations, we expect that these
programs will reduce our greenhouse gas intensity by 12%
by 2012 relative to 2000,” Moore said in the letter. He
also promised to refine AF&PA’s estimates in a year, and
in two years to evaluate members’ progress and determine
if additional reductions or changes to their greenhouse
gas programs are appropriate.
The industry has already taken significant steps to
reduce its greenhouse emissions, Moore said. It will
continue to derive more than half of its energy needs
from renewable energy, or biofuels, Moore told the
Administration. The industry leads all other
manufacturing sectors in onsite electricity generation,
meeting more than half of its own energy needs through
highly-efficient co-generation processes, he said. The
letter described several industry programs that AF&PA
will use to achieve its goals. A critical program is
sequestration -- storage -- of carbon in forestlands and
manufactured products. More than 114 million acres of
forests are enrolled in AF&PA’s Sustainable Forestry
Initiative program, the world’s largest sustainable
forestry program. Under the SFI program, forests are
managed under rigorous standards for protecting soil and
water resources, contributing to biological diversity,
conserving unique features and aesthetic values, and
enhancing forest productivity. Additionally, the industry
produces products that store carbon for decades or
longer.
Research and development is also part of AF&PA’s
solution. One technology under development would allow
for increased burning of renewable biofuels with lower
emissions and greater efficiency. Another project, in
partnership with the Department of Energy, is biomass
gasification. This technique potentially could make the
U.S. forest products industry totally energy self-
sufficient and a generator of net surplus power,
according to Moore. Another program is recycling, which
avoids greenhouse gas emissions from products prematurely
disposed of in landfills. The industry has achieved 48%
recovery rates for all paper products, and has a current
goal of 50%. Moore cautioned that his industry’s success
will depend partially on the administration’s efforts to
“manage the activities of all government agencies,
especially the promulgation of regulatory requirements”
that may cause increases in greenhouse gas emissions. “We
strongly encourage the Administration to address
regulatory requirements where the negative climate
impacts outweigh any environmental benefit,” he said.
13) EU MUST CLAMP DOWN ON CAR AIR CONDITIONING
Edie weekly summaries
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.edie.net/gf.cfm?L=left_frame.html&R=http://www
.edie.net/news/Archive/6641.cfm
Air conditioning in cars will be subject to tighter EU
legislation currently in preparation, to curb the rise in
emissions from vehicles that now require more energy to
keep their interiors cool and more fluorinated gases to
pump their air conditioning units. Without tighter
control, mobile air conditioning is expected to account
for 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions from cars. At a
European conference on reducing greenhouse gases, EU
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said that
proposals were currently being drafted for legislation to
curb fluorinated gas emissions, including those from air
conditioning systems.
Given that air conditioning is rapidly becoming a
standard feature of new cars and is predicted to add
another 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by
2010, another 50 million tonnes by 2020, Wallström said
that the EU must also act to curb the trend in more
energy-intensive cars. Consumers might be surprised to
learn that even the most fuel efficient and low emission
cars were churning out more gases than they were tested
for, because fuel consumption measurements on new cars do
not include the weight and operation of the air
conditioning unit, said Wallström.
The EU is considering phasing out hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs) currently used in air conditioning, which would
entail a transition period to enable manufacturers to
switch to alternative cooling technology. Wallström said
that while the legislation was being prepared, the EU
would remain open to suggestions from industry on the
feasibility of and alternatives to eliminating HFCs,
while staying on target to reduce greenhouse gases under
the Kyoto agreement. Commissioner Wallström also
announced that she would join a delegation to Russia in
March to encourage the country to ratify the Kyoto
protocol (see related story), whose implementation was
now “technically and economically feasible”, she added.
14) WILD COAL FIRES ARE A 'GLOBAL CATASTROPHE'
New Scientist
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993390
Wild coal fires are a global catastrophe, scientists are
warning, burning hundreds of millions of tonnes of coal
every year and contributing to climate change and
damaging human health. These fires can rage both above
and below ground and may contribute more than three per
cent of the world's annual carbon dioxide emissions,
which are thought to be causing global warming.
Scientists note that if coal-producing countries could
tackle the infernos, it might be a cost-effective way to
meet their targets under the Kyoto protocol, drawn up to
cut the emission of greenhouse gases.
"I don't think it's an exaggeration at all to say it's a
global catastrophe," says Glenn Stracher, a US geologist
at East Georgia College, Swainsboro. As well as releasing
carbon dioxide, "the fires cause human suffering -
respiratory, skin diseases, increases in heart problems
and asthmatic conditions. They are responsible for a lot
of illnesses". "Estimates for the carbon dioxide put into
the atmosphere from underground fires in China are
equivalent to the emissions from all motor vehicles in
the US," Stracher told delegates at the American
Association for the Advancement of Science conference in
Denver. The fires also release noxious chemicals into
the air which condense to contaminate soil and water with
substances like mercury, selenium and sulphides,
according to research by Stracher, to be published in the
International Journal of Coal Geology.
FOREST FIRES
Coal fires occur wherever there is coal, but major fires
blaze in Indonesia, China, India and the US. Alfred
Whitehouse, of the Office of Surface Mining in Jakarta,
Indonesia, says there may be up to 1000 fires blazing
underground in that country alone. Underground fires can
be particularly dangerous as they can burn for decades
and ignite forest fires in times of drought. Surface
fires tend to be doused eventually by rains, but
underground fires burn until they exhaust the coal or hit
the water table, he said. Indonesia has been plagued with
coal fires for two decades, ever since a drought induced
by the weather phenomenon El Niño in 1982. Whitehouse
said his office had managed to quell 106 of the 263 fires
they had identified by digging the fires out.
Although coal seam fires have occurred spontaneously far
back into geological history, they are much more common
now. Mining activities like welding, using explosives, or
miners simply discarding cigarette butts can ignite them.
"It's almost always someone's hand," said Whitehouse,
adding that 63 fires are currently being monitored in the
US.
SMOTHERING GROUT
Stracher's research suggests coal wildfires in China burn
200 million tonnes a year, equivalent to about 20 per
cent of the total used by the US for power generation.
Paul van Dijk, of the International Institute for Geo-
Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in the
Netherlands says the ITC is currently working with the
Chinese government to use satellite remote sensing
technology to detect and monitor underground coal fires
in China. Mining engineer Gary Colaizzi told the
conference his company, Goodson and Associates, has
invented a heat-resistant grout that smothers the coal
fires. It is made of sand, fly ash, cement, water and
foam and has the consistency of shaving foam.
See Also:
UNDERGROUND FIRES WREAK HAVOC, BLAZING COAL SEAMS
THREATEN WILDLIFE AND STOKE GLOBAL WARMING, The Guardian,
February 15, 2003, Internet:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,8959
06,00.html
HIDDEN COAL FIRES CREATE VISIBLE PROBLEMS, ENS, February
14, 2003, Internet: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2003/2003-
02-14-06.asp
15) GOV'T TO LAUNCH ENVIRONMENTAL FUEL TAX IN 2005
Mainichi Shimbun
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030214p2a00m0dm017000c.h
tml
Japan plans to launch an "environmental tax" on vehicle
fuel in 2005 to achieve target levels of greenhouse gas
emission reductions set in the Kyoto Protocol, officials
said Friday. Under the protocol, Japan has to cut
greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from the 1990 level
during the period between 2008 and 2012. Although the
government has been calling on businesses and individuals
to voluntarily work towards this goal, emissions of
carbon dioxide (CO2) - a major contributor to the
greenhouse effect - have been on the increase.
The government is now discussing the possibility of
introducing an environmental tax on vehicle fuel and
other products in fiscal 2005 in a desperate effort to
cut CO2 emission and achieve the Kyoto Protocol target,
said Environment Minister Shunichi Suzuki. Officials
tried to justify the tax, which is unpopular with
businesses, by saying that without its introduction Japan
will not be able to achieve protocol targets. At the
request of the Environment Ministry, a panel of
environment experts will soon begin discussing methods of
taxation, tax rates and usage of tax income, and then
present the results of their study in the summer of this
year, the officials said.
16) AIR TRAVEL TO KNOCK UK CO2 EMISSIONS OFF TARGET
Planet Ark
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19821/
story.htm
LONDON - Britain is unlikely to deliver on its pledges to
curb emissions of carbon dioxide, with pollution from air
travel threatening to undo progress by industry and other
sectors, said a team of government advisors this week.
The independent Sustainable Development Commission said
existing measures to cut emissions of greenhouse gas
carbon dioxide (CO2) were unlikely to achieve even two
thirds of the government's targets, and maybe less than half.
The government's goal is to cut CO2 emissions by 20
percent from 1990 levels by 2010. "Our analysis shows
that the UK will fall well short of the government's goal
for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal
greenhouse gas, unless further measures are taken," said
commission chairman Jonathon Porritt. Particularly
worrying were emissions from air travel, which had been
excluded from government calculations and were putting at
risk targets set out in the government's 10-year
transport plan, said the commission.
Porritt urged ministers to use a white paper on future
energy policy, due shortly, to put in place extra
measures. The government is banking on renewable energy
sources such as wind turbines, as well as increased
energy efficiency, to bring big reductions in emissions.
Britain was on track to meet targets on total greenhouse
gas emissions set out in the Kyoto Protocol, the
commission said. Under Kyoto, the UK is committed to
cutting total greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent
from 1990 levels over the period 2008-2012.
17) U.S. INDUSTRY PLEDGES VOLUNTARY GREENHOUSE GAS CUTS
ENS
February 13, 2003
Internet: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2003/2003-02-13-
10.asp
WASHINGTON, DC, February 13, 2003 (ENS) - Top officials
from the Bush administration are showcasing a list of
voluntary industry commitments to reduce the emission of
greenhouse gases as evidence that the President's plan to
combat global climate change is working. Critics
belittled the administration's claims and its voluntary
plan, calling it reckless, and warning that it is likely
to increase, rather than reduce, greenhouse gas
emissions.
"Voluntary goals for reducing global warming pollution
make no more sense than voluntary standards for drinking
water or toxic cleanup," said Katherine Silverthorne,
director of World Wildlife Fund's U.S. climate change
program. "With public health and safety and our
environment at risk, failure to establish legally binding
reduction targets is simply irresponsible." Unveiled
Wednesday by Department of Energy Secretary Spencer
Abraham, Climate VISION - which stands for Voluntary
Innovative Sector Initiatives: Opportunities Now - is a
voluntary, public-private partnership aimed at
encouraging reductions in the projected growth of
America's greenhouse gas emissions. "It is important to
remember that government itself will not appreciably
reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Abraham said.
"Industry, and commercial businesses and ordinary
Americans living their daily lives, will."
The program is the cornerstone of the President's
commitment to reducing the nation's greenhouse gas
intensity by 18 percent. Greenhouse gas intensity is the
ratio of emissions to economic output. In February 2002,
President George W. Bush made this commitment and urged
American businesses and industries to make efforts to
move toward that 18 percent goal. The United States is
responsible for more than 25 percent of worldwide
greenhouse gas emissions, which are widely believed to be
the major cause of global warming. At Wednesday's event,
Abraham said the administration has received voluntary
commitments from American industries that will enable the
nation to reach the President's goal. He praised
voluntary efforts from a wide array of industry
organizations representing automakers, chemical
companies, mining operations, nuclear energy, oil and gas
companies as well as the iron and steel industry.
As an example, Abraham pointed to the American Petroleum
Institute, which says it will increase the aggregate
energy efficiency of its U.S. refinery operations by 10
percent from 2002 to 2012. The American Chemistry
Council, representing 90 percent of the chemical
industry, has agreed to an 18 percent overall greenhouse
gas intensity reduction target by 2012, the energy
secretary said. Yet critics fear that relying on industry
to act voluntarily will do little to curb emissions. Some
believe the administration is using greenhouse gas
intensity in order to cloak a policy of inaction.
"Wasting crucial time with these intensity reduction
targets does more harm than good," Silverthorne said.
Reducing greenhouse gas intensity is not the same as
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Intensity is a relative indicator, expressed in kilograms
of emissions per dollar of economic output, explained
Bill Prindle, policy director of the American Council for
an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). "Their approach is
clever in that it shows apparent progress by reducing
intensity," Prindle said, "but we would have to double
our current rate of intensity reduction to see meaningful
drops in emissions." ACEEE research shows that the Bush
policy will result in a 13 percent increase in emissions,
only two percent less than emissions levels without these
new voluntary commitments.
Critics point to a host of other policies, including the
Clear Skies initiative and the failure to push for
meaningful increases to fuel efficiency standards, as
further evidence the administration has no desire to cut
greenhouse gas emissions. In 2001, soon after taking
office, President Bush withdrew Clinton era support for
the Kyoto Protocol, an international accord to reduce
global greenhouse emissions through a system of legally
binding limits on 37 industrialized countries. The
President has been adamant in his opposition to any
policy that mandates reductions in emissions. The science
behind global warming is uncertain, the administration
argues, and mandating reductions could harm economic
growth.
Supporters of the President's policy believe that
voluntary agreements by industry are the best way for the
nation to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
without serious economic turmoil. "I am not aware of
voluntary programs that have failed," said Dr. Linn
Draper, chairman, president and chief executive officer
of the American Electric Power Company and the chairman
of the Business Roundtable's Environment, Technology and
the Economy Task Force. "I think that we ought to try a
voluntary program and see how well it works," Draper
added. "I think it would be a big mistake to say it's not
going to work before we even try it."
But environmentalists and many Congressional Democrats,
as well as some Republicans, are convinced that the
President's faith in voluntary, industry led initiatives
is misguided. "Though they may make for good P.R.,
voluntary programs like this just don't produce results,"
said Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat from
Connecticut. "At the 1992 summit in Rio the U.S. agreed
to the Convention on Climate Change and signed up to a
'voluntary' goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by
the year 2000. Our greenhouse gas emissions proceeded to
increase by 14 percent between 1990 and 2000. We cannot
afford to fall again for the false promise of promises
alone," Senator Lieberman said. Last month, Lieberman,
and fellow Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican,
introduced a bill that would establish a market based
emissions credit trading system to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
On Wednesday, Lieberman, along with Senators Jim Jeffords,
a Vermont Independent, and Susan Collins, a Maine
Republican, reintroduced the Clean Power Act, which would
use an emissions trading program to mandate industry cuts
to emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides and mercury. This contrasts with the Bush
administration's Clear Skies initiative, which does not
address carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Working with the administration and its Congressional
allies will not be easy, Jeffords said. "Their actions
so far on air quality matters have not fostered an
atmosphere of trust and cooperation."
But the administration appears unfazed by the steady
stream of criticism. The voluntary commitments the
administration has lined up, Abraham said, are
"impressive testimony to the ability of the private
sector to get the job done." As the administration
praised industry efforts, industry representatives
commended the President for focusing on voluntary
efforts, rather than mandates, to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. "The President's climate initiative is a
critical first step towards reversing the growth in U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions," said Edison Electric Institute
president Thomas Kuhn. "By encouraging voluntary, cost
effective solutions, it will curb emissions without
undermining our energy supply or putting the brakes on
economic growth." Environmentalists could not disagree
more, said Sierra Club's executive director Carl Pope.
"This irresponsible policy simply provides cover for
polluters to spew more heat trapping pollution into the
air. If you really want to help your friend quit smoking,
you don't make it easier for him to buy cigarettes."
See Also:
EMISSIONS REDUCTION PLAN TOUTED, Washington Post,
February 13, 2003; Internet:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64898-
2003Feb12.html
U.S. LAUNCHES NEW PLAN TO CUT GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS,
Japan Today,
February 13, 2003, Internet:
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=249336
WEAK RESPONSE ON GLOBAL WARMING, New York Times February
14, 2003, Internet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/14/opinion/14FRI3.html?ex=
1045803600&en=62412402aacd2d99&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
WHITE HOUSE TOUTS VOLUNTARY POLLUTION CUTS;
ENVIRONMENTALISTS DIFFER, The Washington Post, February
12, 2003, Internet:
http://www.nrdc.org/news/newsDetails.asp?nID=889
PRESIDENT BUSH'S CLIMATE CHANGE PLAN VIOLATES KEY
PRINCIPLES OF JUST CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY, Redefining
Progress, February 13 2003,Internet:
http://www.enn.com/direct/display-
release.asp?objid=D1D1364E000000F35ACA1441AE0DC6EC
18) GLOBAL TEMPERATURES STAY HIGH IN 2002 - UK
Planet Ark
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19813/
story.htm
LONDON - Global temperatures have kept rising and 2002
was one of the warmest years on record while many
greenhouse gases reached their highest ever levels in
2001, a British government report said this week. Data
analysed by the UK Meteorological Office's Hadley Centre
for Climate Prediction and Research found that last year
joined 2001 and 1998 as the top three warmest since
records began in 1860. "This report does show that the
UK is making good progress to tackle its greenhouse gas
emissions, but much more needs to be done if we are to
stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere
at a safe level," Environment Minister Michael Meacher
said in a statement.
Scientists say greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide,
from vehicle and industry emissions, cause temperature
increases by trapping the sun's heat in the atmosphere.
Meacher said in a statement that Britain was on track to
exceed its target under the United Nations Kyoto Protocol
of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent below
1990 levels by 2008-2012. The report said the UK could
still achieve its own higher target of a 23 percent cut.
A government paper on the future of the energy sector is
due in the next couple of months. A report last year
advocated increasing energy from renewable sources to 20
percent by 2020 as a way of meeting climate goals.
Climate change scenarios for the UK by the Hadley Centre
suggest a future of hotter, drier summers and warmer,
wetter winters.
19) STATES TARGET GREENHOUSE GASES
Stateline.org
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://www.stateline.org/story.do?storyId=287775
States are taking steps to reduce America’s contributions
to global warming in the face of federal inaction. The
Bush administration favors voluntary programs encouraging
companies to track and reduce their emissions of
greenhouse gases-- like carbon dioxide and methane-- that
scientists believe are contributing to a rise in global
temperatures. With the United States producing a quarter
of the world’s greenhouse gases, many states have taken
matters into their own hands by regulating utility
emissions or carbon dioxide from vehicles.
Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global
Climate Change, said, “States are perceiving a vacuum in
federal leadership and are moving forward on their own,
sometimes in cautious ways, and with the notion they
they’re going to experiment with some different
approaches.” States are perceiving a vacuum in federal
leadership and are moving forward on their own.
California’s innovative law on curbing greenhouse gases
requires state air regulators to start a program by 2009
to cut emissions from automotive vehicles. New York Gov.
George Pataki promoted a similar plan in his State of the
State address, and the U.S. Congress is considering a
national limit on the release of carbon dioxide. State
action is building momentum for dealing with carbon
dioxide on the national level, Claussen said. (Stateline
is funded by the same philanthropy that supports the Pew
Center on Global Climate Change.)
In his State of the Union address, President Bush called
for action on a “Clear Skies” initiative that promises
reductions in three power-plant pollutants: mercury,
sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. But the plan doesn’t
cover carbon dioxide, a gas emitted from transportation-
related sources, such as cars and buses, that accounts
for 32 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Three states—Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut--- sued
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in January,
arguing that the Bush administration is jeopardizing the
health of its residents and violating clean-air laws by
failing to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Thus far,
no other states have plans to follow their lead.
In the absence of a mandatory national policy, many
states have forged ahead to try to lower emissions. In
May 2002, New Hampshire became the first state to
legislatively require fossil fuel plants to reduce
emissions of four pollutants, including carbon dioxide.
Other states are undertaking educational campaigns to
reduce greenhouse gases, turning methane gas from
landfills into energy, promoting carpooling and natural
gas vehicles. Oregon became the first state to use its
Capitol to generate solar power last year. There’s a
growing expectation that a lot of the leadership on
environmental energy is going to come at the state level.
Barry Rabe, University of Michigan professor . “Whether
or not the federal government acts, state actions
historically have influenced greenhouse gases,” said
Barry Rabe, a professor of environmental policy at the
University of Michigan and chief author of a study
conducted by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
“There’s a growing expectation that a lot of the
leadership on environmental energy is going to come at
the state level.”
State approaches to greenhouse gases are varied:
* In December, New Jersey partnered with churches to
promote the use of renewable energy.
* Massachusetts was the first state to establish a
multi-pollutant cap that includes carbon monoxide for six
power plants in April 2001.
* A Nebraska program uses crop rotation to increase the
amount of farmland that absorbs carbon from the
atmosphere.
* Wisconsin established mandatory reporting for large
carbon dioxide generators.
Regional cooperation is proving increasingly possible.
New England governors and the premiers of five eastern
provinces of Canada reaffirmed goals in August 2002 to
develop a common framework for reducing greenhouse gases.
Many states ramped up their “green” programs after
President Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997
climate treaty that has been ratified by most of the
world’s industrial countries. Bush said the treaty, in
which nations agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions,
would hurt the U.S. economy.
20) EXXON CEO BACKS MANDATORY EMISSIONS REPORTS
Planet Ark
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19808/
story.htm
HOUSTON - Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N) Chief Executive Lee
Raymond said this week companies should be required to
report carbon emissions before any rules are created to
target cuts in gases blamed for global warming. "We
voluntarily report our emissions and back mandatory
reporting based on effective and reliable procedures as
essential preconditions to policies that target emission
reductions," Raymond told a Cambridge Energy Research
Associates conference. Exxon Mobil has long been the
focus of environmentalists' anger for its perceived
reluctance to acknowledge the growing scientific data
showing the role fossil fuels play in climate change.
Carbon dioxide emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes
are widely believed to contribute to global warming,
which scientists say could lift sea levels and submerge
island states and sharply alter weather patterns,
increasing the frequency of severe storms. Raymond said
Exxon Mobil was researching cleaner energy sources,
including hydrogen-based technologies, but said
tremendous advances were needed for economically viable
alternatives. "To make a real reduction in emissions
without impairing prosperity, we will need technology
comparable to that deployed in the effort to explore
space, to engineer new types of drugs based on
recombinant technology or to develop personal computing,"
he said.
Last year, Exxon Mobil said it would donate $100 million
to Stanford University to research viable energy
technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. General
Electric Co. (GE.N), Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB.N) and
Germany's E.ON AG (EONG.DE) have also sponsored the
project. Measuring emissions from companies that burn
fossil fuels is seen as a precursor to developing an
emissions exchange or "cap and trade" system under which
polluters who exceed their pollution allotment can buy
other companies' excess emission rights. Supporters,
including many industries, have said such a trading
system is the most economical method to reduce greenhouse
gas output.
The European Union issued a proposal earlier this month
to improve its monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions,
and is expected to launch an emissions trading system in
coming years. The Chicago Climate Exchange said last
month it would launch an Internet-based market this
spring for carbon dioxide and methane, another greenhouse
gas. The Bush administration, which pulled the United
States out of the global warming Kyoto Protocol pact in
2000, has been collecting written pledges from industries
to curb greenhouse gas emissions in a drive to stave off
mandatory controls, The New York Times reported in
January.
21) ENERGY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
The Guardian
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,89439
9,00.html
The government's much-anticipated and much-delayed energy
policy white paper - discussed at cabinet yesterday - may
confuse more than it will convince. Early indications
were that government policy would be decisively tipped in
favour of the environment. This would mean that Britain
would see more energy produced from renewable sources
like wind and help the country cut the amount of carbon
dioxide produced. Then came the £650m bail-out of British
Energy, the privatised nuclear power generator, and now a
proposed £60m hand-out for deep coal pits, which will
save 2,000 jobs but make reducing greenhouse gas
emissions harder. What these in fact show is that the
government's previous adherence to a market approach has
failed.
Britain's energy policy is now very much in the visible
hands of the state. This is a good thing. A new pattern
of energy consumption and power production will only come
into being with the connivance of ministers. This is
required because Britain's traditional energy sources are
either too dirty (coal), running out (North sea gas) or
past their expiry date (nuclear). Ministers need to take
political decisions that may not advance their political
prospects, but which help the country's long-term needs.
What this translates to is committing large amounts of
cash for renewable energy sources and improving energy
efficiency. The forthcoming white paper will need targets
on reducing carbon dioxide emissions and getting green
technologies from the drawing board to the wind farm.
Such goals will have to be more ambitious than the ones
the government is struggling to meet already.
The question, though, is not the government's intent but
whether it is committed to delivery. For example, leaks
suggest that the government will want renewables to
generate a fifth of the total energy produced in Britain
by 2020. At first glance, this should help considerably
to alleviate climate change. In fact it will not, as even
at this level renewables will only replace the
contribution now made by nuclear power, which produces a
lot of waste but none of the atmosphere-altering kind.
This is not a green light for more nuclear power
stations. As the Institute of Public Policy Research
recently pointed out, the new nuclear reactor designs are
unproven, the problem of long-term storage of nuclear
waste remains unsolved and the heightened terrorist
threat makes nuclear more likely to be part of the past
rather than the future.
The real gains to be made in reducing carbon dioxide will
come from energy efficiency. This means a radical plan to
alter the amount of heat lost in homes through boilers
and heating systems. There are some simple gains to be
made - tighten the building regulations which allow twice
as much energy use in a new home than in Germany. Again
money is needed - to convince people to spend £300 to
install cavity wall insulation that will save them £100 a
year. The real problem is that unless radical new ways of
generating cash are found, the Treasury will be reluctant
to hand out billions of pounds. Some cash might be found
from business - a recent paper by energy consultants
Oxera suggested that if the social cost of carbon was
taken into account on corporate balance sheets, many
large companies would be in the red. Ultimately the
taxpayer will pay - possibly through higher taxes. But a
better solution would be higher electricity prices.
Higher prices mean more money for investment and a
dampening of society's insatiable demand for energy. It
may sound unappealing - but it is better than the lights
going out.
22) CLIMATE LINKED TO RURAL POVERTY
ENS
February 13, 2003
Internet: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2003/2003-02-13-09.
asp#anchor3
LONG BEACH, California, February 13, 2003 (ENS) - A team
of scientists has examined the relationship between
climate and income, and has concluded that the climate
plays an important role in determining the distribution
of rural poverty. The scientists, led by Alan Basist of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
(NOAA) National Climatic Data Center, analyzed upper
level soil wetness data along with population densities
and economic data from the most recent U.S. Census. They
also used climate data provided by NOAA to identify
relationships between climatic and agricultural
production, per capita income, and land value in rural
districts across the United States and Brazil.
The climate data, including surface temperature and
wetness, were derived from the Special Sensor Microwave
Imager, flown by the Defense Meteorological Satellite
Program. Another climatic variable, the vegetation halth
index, was derived from NOAA's polar orbiting
environmental satellites. Three separate analyses were
conducted for rural counties in Brazil and the United
States. The first analysis established that climate is
correlated with income. Higher temperatures are
associated with reduced income in both Brazil and the
United States. Over the United States, higher incomes
correspond with higher amounts of upper level soil
moisture. In Brazil, lower incomes correspond with lower
amounts of soil moisture.
The second analysis showed that the predicted value of
land, or net revenue, has a strong direct relationship
with income. Areas with more valuable land have higher
incomes. The third analysis separated the impact of the
climate from other factors that affect farm productivity.
Findings reveal that climate explains most of the
variation in agricultural production. The evidence from
the United States and Brazil reveals that climate
influences income, and plays a role in determining rural
poverty. It is more difficult to generate income in
places with lower productivity. This is evident even in
the United States, which has plenty of access to capital
and modern technology. The results of the study, which
was funded by the World Bank, were presented February 11
at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological
Society in Long Beach.
23) EU ENVIRONMENT COMMISSIONER MARGOT WALLSTRÖM COMMENTS
ON VOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS BY US INDUSTRY TO REDUCE
GREENHOUSE GASES
EU
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://www.eurunion.org/News/press/2003/2003011.htm
“Business must be part of the solution to climate change.
I therefore welcome any measures by business to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions over and above business-as-
usual. It is difficult to see to what extent this is the
case with the commitments announced now by the Business
Roundtable in the US and endorsed by President Bush. Most
of the sectoral commitments do not include an objective
to cut greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms, and
some do not even contain quantified objectives at all.
“President Bush's goal announced a year ago is only to
reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the US economy but
not absolute emissions. Under this goal US emissions are
likely to increase by over 30% between 1990 and 2012 as
efficiency gains will be outweighed by economic and
population growth. The European Union by contrast is now
legally bound under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce its
emissions by 8% over the same period, and we are putting
into place the policies to achieve this target, for
example an internal EU emissions trading system. I am
convinced that many in the US understand that a policy
based solely on voluntary commitments and with
unambitious targets is not enough to tackle climate
change.”
24) HAGEL SEEKING A LARGE INCREASE IN RENEWABLE FUELS
The Independent
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/021303/new_hagel13.
shtml
Legislation that would dramatically increase the amount
of renewable fuels used in the United States will be
introduced today by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. The bill
Hagel and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., are
sponsoring would expand the use of renewable fuels, such
as ethanol from corn and sorghum, as well as biodiesel
from soybeans. The centerpiece of the Daschle-Hagel bill
will be a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which would
gradually increase the nation's use of renewable fuel
from around 1.7 billion gallons annually to 5 billion
gallons a year by 2012. The RFS in this bill is modeled
after Hagel's Renewable Fuels for Energy Security Act of
2001. "The new legislation is not a gallon-by-gallon
mandate, and would not force the use of ethanol or
biodiesel in places where compliance may be difficult,"
Hagel said. He said the bill be a boost to Nebraska's
producers and growing ethanol industry.
Nationally, the bill is estimated to replace 66 billion
gallons of foreign crude oil; save $34 billion on foreign
oil purchases; create more than 200,000 jobs nationwide;
and boost U.S. farm income by more than $6 billion a
year. Hagel also said demand for grain (mainly corn, but
also sorghum) would grow an average of 1.4 billion
bushels. Soybean demand would increase by 144 million
bushels. According to Bob Dinneen, president of the
Renewable Fuels Association, the Hagel-Daschle bill would
help set the stage for an additional 5 billion gallons of
ethanol production annually.
Increasing the volume of renewable fuels as a result of
the Hagel-Daschle bill would also have a positive
environmental impact. According to the Renewable Fuels
Association, ethanol-blended fuels reduce vehicular
emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that
contribute to global warming. The Argonne National
Laboratory has determined that for every gallon of
gasoline replaced by ethanol, greenhouse gases are
reduced by 30 percent. Last year, the laboratory
reported that ethanol-blended fuels reduced CO2-
equivalent greenhouse gas emission by approximately 4.3
million tons in the United States. That reduction is
equivalent to removing the annual greenhouse gas
emissions of more than 636,000 cars from the road. This
reduction is due, in part, to the "carbon cycle," whereby
much of the carbon dioxide released when ethanol-blended
fuels are used is reabsorbed by biomass plants, like
corn, during growth. These biomass plants provide the
feedstocks for ethanol production.
The Hagel-Daschle bill would have a huge impact on
Nebraska's already growing ethanol industry, said Todd
Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board. He
said Nebraska has six ethanol plants in operation, with
two more under construction and another one that could be
reactivated. Sneller said the potential of those plants
could push the state's ethanol production to 425 million
to 450 million gallons by the end of the year. That would
equate to using 220 million to 240 million bushels. Based
on last year's state corn crop, that represents one-
quarter of all the corn grown in Nebraska. Developing
more renewable fuel production facilities, such as
ethanol plants, would create more of a geographical
dispersal across the county and make them less of a
potential terrorist target, Sneller said.
Also, having ethanol plants located across the country
would save millions of gallons of fuel each year that
would be required to ship corn and other renewable fuels
crops to other parts of the country for further
processing. "We do not have a lot of oil refineries in
the United States and a terrorist attack on one of those
refineries could have a catastrophic impact, disrupting
not only the transportation sector, but the entire
economy of this country," Sneller said. Also, he said
targeting more corn to domestic energy production will
help offset lower corn exports. According to a recent
report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, corn used
by ethanol producers offset a 25-million-bushel reduction
in exports last month. With world corn production
expected to be on the rise, especially with bigger corn
crops in Argentina and Ukraine, that could mean larger
exports from those countries and reduced U.S. exports.
"To cushion the economic impact from massive reduction in
exports, we can help offset that by developing more
domestic industrial uses for corn, such as ethanol
production," Sneller said.
25) CONOCO CHAIRMAN ADVOCATES N. AMERICAN ENERGY PACT
Planet Ark
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19810/
story.htm
HOUSTON - ConocoPhillips (COP.N) Chairman Archie Dunham
advocated a North American energy pact similar to the
North American Free Trade Agreement during a speech at a
Houston energy conference this week. Mexico would
benefit most by opening its market to American
investment, Dunham said. Unlike Canada, Mexico reserved
its sovereignty over energy resources under NAFTA. "The
result is that U.S.-Mexico energy trade has not prospered
to the same degree as that between the U.S. and Canada,"
he said.
U.S. and Canadian companies would able to invest directly
in Mexican natural resources, Dunham said. And any return
could be reinvested in the company, as opposed to passing
it on to the Mexican government, which is currently
required by Mexican law. Environmental policies, such as
emissions trading, could be adopted on a continental
basis, he said.
26) 'CLEAN' PROJECTS LIKELY TO BYPASS INDIA
Economic Times
February 12, 2003
Internet:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/a
rticleshow?artid=37205032
NEW DELHI: When it comes to environment, “one step
forward, two steps back” is fast becoming the rule. While
China and central American countries like Brazil and
Costa Rica have made their way up on the list of
preferred destinations for Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) projects, India is lagging behind — thanks to lack
of policy, investment climate and techno-economic
potential, in precisely that order. This comes at a time
when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) is expecting more than 200 CDM projects
to take off in ’03. The executive board of the CDM has
simplified the documentation, issued an indicative
baseline and spelt out monitoring procedures for small-
scale projects recently.
This should be good news for countries like India where
there is no dearth of proposals related to renewable
energy plants of less than 50 MW capacity, and in areas
of fuel switching and methane capture. However, an expert
poll reveals that the host country approvals required for
CDM to take off may themselves act as barriers. Agreeing
with the findings of the poll conducted by Point Carbon,
a Norwegian agency, director general of TERI and chairman
of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, RK
Pachauri, says, “Despite potential, the much-touted CDM
may prove to be a damp squib in India. This is because
the international perception is that it is very difficult
to do business here.”
According to the expert poll, host government approval is
crucial to minimise transaction costs (like time, effort,
resources to locate, negotiate and complete a deal),
which in turn reduces total project cost. However, the
experience of the World Bank’s Prototype Carbon Fund so
far is not very promising — it has had a hard time
getting government approvals, it says. This is true of
China too, which is otherwise an investor’s favourite due
to its huge potential, favourable investment climate and
fast growth.
According to the poll, by the time the Asian giants
(India and China) put their CDM apparatus in place,
others in Central America, including Mexico, would have
gained CDM experience. With methane gas capture from
mines, landfills and pipelines (flaring) being most
attractive, South Korea and Chile may also score over the
others because they also have a policy in place. Under
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the
developed countries can invest in environment-friendly
projects in developing countries. The polluting
greenhouse gases reduced through these projects will be
deemed reduced by the investing country. CDM, under the
Kyoto Protocol, allows developed country investors to
earn carbon credits from non-GHG emitting projects in
developing countries to be settled against their own
emission reduction targets.
In order to make this market-based mechanism work,
operational entities — consultants of sorts — have to be
appointed in developing countries. The executive board
has received 11 such applications —from Asia Pacific,
Western Europe and other regions. A couple of
accreditations should come through in two months. While
India submitted six such proposals earlier, Preety M
Bhandari, director, policy analysis division, TERI,
points out that they are for ‘CDM-like’ projects and
India does not as yet have a CDM policy in place.
According to Mr Pachauri, even if it takes off, CDM may
not be large in terms of size of transactions — around
$40-50bn by ’12.
27) SWISS CEMENT INDUSTRY AGREES TO CO2 CUTS
Pressetext
February 12, 2003
Internet: http://www.pressetext.com/pte.mc?pte=030212033
Bern (pte, Feb 12, 2003 14:04) - Switzerland’s cement
industry has become the first sector to join forces with
the government in setting targets to reduce carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions. In a signed agreement, the
sector has pledged to reduce emissions between now and
2010. The agreement was made under the government's
Energy Switzerland programme, which aims to achieve a ten
per cent reduction in CO2 emissions compared with 1990
levels. The target is required by national law. Under the
agreement, the cement industry is prepared to reduce the
amount of CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion
processes by 44 per cent. This should largely be achieved
through the replacement of fossil carbon-based fuels with
renewables. A second binding target is to reduce the
amount of CO2 resulting from manufacturing processes by
30 per cent.
Switzerland's federal agency for the environment, forests
and landscape (Buwal) expects to conclude around 30
similar agreements with various financial sectors under
the Energy Switzerland programme this year. Despite
expected progress, Buwal says the government has not
ruled out the introduction of a special CO2 tax to help
it meet the ten per cent target.
28) UK 'MAY FAIL ON CLIMATE CUTS'
BBC
February 12, 2003
Internet:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2748977.stm
The UK Government is unlikely to meet its pledge to cut a
key greenhouse gas, a respected advisory group says. The
advisers, the Sustainable Development Commission, say
measures for significantly reducing carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions are lacking. They praise ministers for working
to achieve a more modest international commitment to cut
greenhouse gases. And they say there is a need for
political leadership to boost climate change policies.
The commission has published a report, UK Climate Change
Programme: A policy audit, which it says is a
contribution to the government's review of the programme,
promised for later in 2003. The UK is committed under the
Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement on tackling
climate change, to cut emissions of six greenhouse gases
to 12.5% below their 1990 levels by between 2008 and
2012.
HEADING FOR FAILURE
The commission says: "We believe the UK is likely to
achieve its Kyoto target... Few other countries can claim
that. It is a positive point, which we must build on in
encouraging greater efforts internationally." But the
government has also promised to cut emissions of CO2, the
main greenhouse gas produced by human activities, to 20%
below their 1990 levels by 2010. The commission says its
analysis shows the UK "will fall well short" of this goal
"unless further measures are taken".
It says measures to achieve the goal "are simply not in
place. The UK is unlikely to achieve even two-thirds of
that reduction, and maybe less than half." The commission
adds: "This is not a reason to abandon the goal, but to
redouble efforts to achieve it. There is still time to do
so. "And there are great benefits, not only for the long
term by helping to slow global climate change, but
immediately through business opportunities for low-carbon
technologies and by giving ourselves a better quality of
life all round.
NO NEW THINKING
"The emissions reductions from the 10-year transport plan
are particularly at risk. And international air travel,
not even included in the calculations or the goal,
threatens to blow away all the good work in industry and
other sectors." In one key finding, it says: "Looking
beyond 2010, the UK projections do not yet show the
radical shift needed towards a low carbon path, nor are
the policies in place to achieve more sustainable
patterns of energy generation and consumption." Jonathon
Porritt, chairman of the commission, said: "These are
disturbing findings. The Government must now seize the
opportunity of using the energy White Paper to bring us
back on track for 2010, and set us on a low-carbon path
into the longer term." Publication of the White Paper,
spelling out the government's policy proposals on energy,
is expected in March. Walter Menzies, a member of the
Sustainable Development Commission, told BBC News Online:
"It's not all bad by any means - it's more a question of
'could do better'.
LIVING IN HOPE
"I think the big litmus test is the White Paper. If ever
there were a test of government policy on sustainable
development, it'll be that. "It's a hugely difficult
question, but we've been quite encouraged by our
discussions with ministers and officials.
"Internationally, the government has driven things
forwards on climate change, but domestically I'm not so
sure. "We're looking forward to the Prime Minister making
his first substantial speech on sustainable development.
Watch this space." Other measures the report calls for
include progress on energy efficiency, transport,
combined heat and power schemes, and renewable energy
sources.
See Also:
GREENHOUSE GAS WARNING, Sky News, February 12, 2003,
Internet: http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,31500-
12244748,00.html
29) TEMPERATURE RISE ANOTHER CORAL ENEMY
The Courier Mail (Queensland,Australia)
February 12, 2003
Internet:
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0
,5936,5969964%255E3102,00.html
CLIMATE change will be so dramatic by the end of this
century the ocean in the southern Great Barrier Reef will
have reached temperatures now only seen in the tropics,
new CSIRO research predicts. Separate experiments have
shown the warming, predicted to be between 1-4deg, would
theoretically be enough to kill many corals by a process
called coral bleaching. The report has reopened the
long-running debate about whether the Reef really is in
trouble or if it scientists and conservationists are
crying wolf. In the past two decades there have been
warnings the Reef was at dire risk of succumbing to crown
of thorns starfish, pesticides, mud, fertilisers,
overfishing, climate change, rising sea levels and a
newly discovered problem known as white disease.
A small but increasingly vocal group of scientists,
including James Cook University marine geologist Bob
Carter, is convinced there is no credible threat to the
marine park. Professor Carter, an expert on sediment,
said there had been no increase in muddiness in the Great
Barrier Reef lagoon since European settlement and nor
would there be for another 100,000 years at current rates
of development. He pointed to a Productivity Commission
report last year which said the Reef was still in good
condition, with the exception of some inshore reefs, and
an international study late last year which found the
Reef was in excellent condition compared with reefs in
other countries.
However, Roger Jones, from CSIRO Atmospheric Research,
said his work showed that although sea temperatures would
climb more slowly than land temperatures, the waters of
the southern sector of the Reef may reach up to 31deg in
an average summer by 2070. Even by 2030 temperatures
could rise half to 1deg above 1990 levels, enough to
cause bleaching seven to nine times every decade in
sensitive inshore areas. By 2070 bleaching could occur
nine times a decade, the events would be more intense and
recovery times longer.
"There is still uncertainty because of the state of
scientific knowledge on global warming and possible
future variables such as economic growth rates and the
impact of programs to limit greenhouse gas emissions," he
conceded. "Recovery has been good in the four bleaching
events since 1991, but whether that will continue we just
don't know yet." A scientist said yesterday he believed
the dreaded crown of thorns starfish could be helping the
Reef rather than eating it into extinction. "It's still
only a theory that we are not too sure about yet," said
Australian Institute of Marine Science researcher Ian
Miller. The first plague of the black spiky starfish was
discovered around Green Island off Cairns in 1962 and has
since moved unrelentingly along the Reef. But some
scientists think the starfish aids coral diversity by
controlling dominant species.
30) BRITAIN FACES DROUGHT AND FLOODS BY THE 22ND CENTURY
Independent
February 12, 2003
Internet:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?st
ory=377588
Britain's climate will heat faster in the next 100 years
than at any time since the end of the Ice Age, with
droughts in summer and floods in winter becoming more
common in the south and east, the Government warned
yesterday. The changes are inevitable, said the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, using
data from the Hadley Centre, Britain's premier climate-
study facility. The Environment Agency, responsible for
monitoring recent river flooding and protecting the
British environment, said tackling the effects of climate
change was already proving costly, and added: "Our
emergency workforce is the 'thin green frontline' when it
comes to flood events."
The gloomy picture of a climate out of control, and of
defences being overwhelmed, brought renewed calls for
faster and more radical government action, especially by
the United States, the largest generator of the carbon
dioxide that is a key greenhouse gas leading to warming.
The analysis found that on average Britain would warm by
between two and five degrees centigrade in the coming
century, though the rise would be greater over land,
reaching up to eight degrees centigrade in the south and
east. To stabilise the levels of carbon dioxide would
become harder, the Defra report said. "We're already
seeing the some change created by the greenhouse
emissions of the Seventies," said Geoff Jenkins, head of
the climate prediction group at the Hadley Centre. "We
expect the trend to continue."
In the south and east, which are most affected by the
continental land mass, summer sunshine will increase by
20 per cent, but winter rainfall will increase by 25 per
cent, and summer rainfall could halve. "The United
Kingdom is facing a future of unprecedented change,"
Defra said. "Cutting emissions now and in the future will
go some way to prevent the worst effects, but our past
emissions mean some degree of change is inevitable." A
spokesman for the environment group Greenpeace said:
"Things need to be done now. Global warming is happening
and it will affect people in the developing world more
than anywhere else. Many lives are going to be lost to
global warming unless action is taken now. One would hope
that this report is a spur for White House action."
America has been reluctant to make firm commitments to
reducing carbon dioxide emissions, having snubbed the
Kyoto Treaty, which was intended to reduce emissions from
industrialised countries below their 1990 levels by 2010.
Britain has committed itself to meeting those targets.
But measurements taken by the Hadley Centre show "carbon
feedback" from forests and natural vegetation – as rain
forests are cut down and burnt – is rising and could
accelerate global warming even further. The atmospheric
concentration of many greenhouse gases reached their
highest levels in 2001; global temperatures continued to
rise with 2002, 2001 and 1998 being the hottest years on
record. Defra said it had strategies in place to cope
with flooding.
31) RED SQUIRRELS EVOLVING WITH GLOBAL WARMING
New Scientist
February 12, 2003
Internet:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993382
Red squirrels are rapidly evolving in response to global
warming - they are the first mammals in which such
genetic changes have been seen. The discovery could bode
well for other species struggling to adapt to new
conditions, say researchers. Andrew McAdam, at the
University of Alberta, Canada, and colleagues monitored
four generations of squirrels in the Yukon, Canada, over
10 years. They found that female squirrels now give birth
on average 18 days earlier in the year than their great-
grandmothers. They then used a statistical technique to
separate changes in behaviour resulting from an
individual's flexibility from those resulting from
genetic changes, where the frequency of certain genes
increases from one generation to the next.
The technique is called quantitative genetics, and has
long been used in agriculture. It attributes about 15 per
cent of the observed shift in birth date to genetic
factors. "Because climate change is happening so fast,
the perceived wisdom is that mammals won't be able to
undergo evolution to keep up with that," says Lesley
Hughes, who researches the effects of climate change on
species at Macquarie University in Australia. "But this
work offers a little glimmer of hope, at least for some
species."
LIVE LONG AND PROSPER
The driving force behind the evolutionary changes is that
the warmer climate means that females with a genetic
propensity to give birth earlier are more likely to have
offspring that prosper. These early-borns have a head
start on their younger peers. They are bigger and more
independent when autumn comes and it is time to store
food, says Stan Boutin, another member of the team. The
work joins a growing body of evidence that many living
things are changing their abundance, distribution and
behaviour in response to increasing global temperatures.
Genetic changes have been shown in American mosquitoes
but this is the first study that demonstrates a genetic
shift in a mammal. However it is unlikely that humans
have started to evolve in response to climate change. "We
have been able to overcome so many of the selective
pressures that would normally be important because of
medical breakthroughs," says Boutin.
See Also:
GLOBAL WARMING CAUSING GENETIC CHANGES; UPI, February 12,
2003, Internet: www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030212-
030811-3739r
32) A DEEP-SIX FIX; COULD BURYING FOSSIL-FUEL EMISSIONS
SAVE THE CLIMATE?
US News
February 10, 2003
Internet:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030210/misc/10carbon.h
tm
`These guys are wacko!" was earth scientist Sally
Benson's initial reaction several years back when two
prominent scientists gave a talk about an answer to
global warming that sounded too good to be true. Carbon
dioxide from fossil fuels traps heat as it builds up in
the atmosphere, and most scientists think the trend, if
unchecked, bodes a scorching future. So why not catch the
stuff before it goes up smokestacks, the speakers
proposed? Why not simply bury it underground or in the
ocean depths?
Today Benson heads a U.S. Department of Energy effort to
explore just that idea, which is seeming less wacky every
day. Last November, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
announced that the Bush administration would invest as
much as $90 million in research on burying carbon
dioxide. BP and ChevronTexaco are studying the strategy,
called carbon sequestration. Test projects in Canada and
the North Sea are yielding encouraging results. Even many
environmentalists support sequestration research. Says
David Hawkins, director of the Natural Resources Defense
Council's climate center: "The challenge of climate
change is too large and looming too close in time for us
to ignore the contribution that carbon storage could
make."
Not in my ocean. Carbon sequestration schemes target
emissions only from factory and power plant smokestacks,
not from the tailpipes of cars and SUVs. And stripping
carbon dioxide from the stew of chemicals emitted by
these big polluters could be costly. Further, while
carbon dioxide is hardly nuclear waste, there's a heated
controversy about the safest place to put it. Just last
August, Greenpeace helped scupper a test project that
would have injected carbon dioxide into the North Sea,
asserting that marine burial could damage ocean
ecosystems. Underground repositories, for their part,
might leak.
But if sequestration worked, the payoff could be huge.
Most scientists concur that to prevent drastic global
changes--which could include shifts in ocean currents,
inundated coastlines, and expanded deserts--the
atmosphere's carbon dioxide concentration will have to be
capped at about twice its levels before the Industrial
Revolution 200 years ago, when large-scale fossil fuel
use began. That would mean limiting global emissions of
the gas to current levels within two decades, even as the
world's population increases and energy consumption jumps
in the Third World as poor nations grow richer. We can't
bury all the excess, says Benson, but carbon storage
could "make a huge dent," buying precious time in which
to shift from coal, oil, and gas to new, greener energy
sources.
The world's first commercial-scale sequestration effort
is already underway on a natural-gas rig off the coast of
Norway. Each week, workers pipe 20,000 tons of carbon
dioxide--an amount equivalent to the output of a 150-
megawatt coal-fired power plant--into the porous rock of
a saltwater aquifer more than half a mile below the
seafloor. The source of the carbon dioxide isn't a power
plant but the natural gas itself. It comes out of the
well containing a high percentage of carbon dioxide,
which must be stripped out before the fuel can be sold.
After Norway levied a tax on offshore carbon dioxide
emissions in 1996, the rig's owners decided to bury the
waste gas instead of venting it.
Good seal. So far, the aquifer seems to be gas-tight.
Scientists monitoring it had a scare recently when seismic
images seemed to show that carbon dioxide had seeped into
the clay-and-shale cap sealing the aquifer. But it turned
out they had been fooled by an upward curve in the cap.
Late last year, the Energy Department announced that it,
too, would investigate whether the gas could be stored
in deep saltwater aquifers (freshwater reservoirs are
too precious to contaminate). The project is slated for
the Ohio River Valley, in part because of the many power
plants in the region. To forestall climate change, such
formations would have to store the carbon dioxide for
centuries. It will be at least a decade before
geologists will be able to say with any certainty
whether aquifers can contain the gas over the long term.
But if they can, the search for storage space would be
over. It's been estimated that deep saline aquifers in
the United States alone could hold 500 billion tons of
carbon dioxide, room enough to store centuries' worth of
U.S. emissions, at current levels.
An ongoing experiment in a declining Saskatchewan oil
field is exploring another type of repository--one that
many say is a surer bet than aquifers. Two hundred miles
to the south, the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near
Beulah, N.D., turns coal into clean-burning natural gas,
producing carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Two years ago
the plant began piping carbon dioxide north to the
Weyburn oil field. There it's pumped deep underground to
help squeeze extra output from the well--a common
practice in fields that have begun to run dry. Depleted
oil and gas fields have less than a tenth of the total
storage capacity of the world's saline aquifers, but
they've successfully stored oil and gas for tens of
millions of years--a "bulletproof indication" that these
formations don't leak, says Steven Pacala, codirector of
the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at Princeton University.
Engineers will be monitoring the Weyburn field to see
whether it can still trap gas after being tapped for oil.
Far more controversial are plans for disposing of carbon
in the deep sea. The oceans naturally soak up about one
third of industrial carbon dioxide emissions; in
principle, they could mop up a lot more. In fact, if the
entire amount of carbon dioxide needed to double
atmospheric concentrations were stashed in the oceans,
their carbon content would rise by only 2 percent. Lured
by these kinds of figures, scientists have investigated
two strategies for sequestering carbon in the seas. The
ill-fated North Sea experiment would have tested one
approach: simply pumping liquefied carbon dioxide to
depths of thousands of feet. Researchers originally
planned to inject several tons of it into the waters off
the Kona coast of Hawaii to see how the gas would
disperse and dissolve, but environmental activists
blocked the test. The team then sought to move it to
Norway, but green groups fought it there, too. "Instead
of trying to put the smokestack underwater, we should be
investing massively in energy efficiency and renewables
[like solar and wind power]," argues Kert Davies,
research director for the U.S. office of Greenpeace. Even
scientists who think the scheme is worth studying have
doubts about large-scale efforts, fearing that dumping
billions of tons in the oceans could smother deep-living
organisms and have unintended--and dire--effects on
climate.
Field tests of a second approach have given critics fresh
ammunition.
Scientists have long speculated that they could encourage
the growth of single-celled marine algae by fertilizing
the ocean with iron, a scarce nutrient. In theory, the
plants would gobble carbon as they grew and store it away
in the depths as they died and sank. But when scientists
spread iron fertilizer in waters south of New Zealand
recently, they found that although the algae did flourish
and absorb extra carbon dioxide from the water, it took
fully 1 ton of iron to sequester 1,000 tons of carbon.
Moreover, the iron-gorged algae cranked up their
production of two harmful gases--isoprene, itself a
greenhouse gas, and methyl bromide, which is known to
damage the Earth's protective ozone layer.
Wherever the gas is buried, engineers also face the
challenge of capturing it in the first place. One idea is
to retrofit big emitters like coal-fired power plants
with "scrubbers," which would chemically strip the gas
from the exhaust. A second, more radical strategy would
extract carbon dioxide from coal or oil without burning
it. Experts have high hopes for the technology, much of
which is already in use in synfuels plants. Not only does
it yield a stream of carbon dioxide, but it also produces
the cleanest fuel of all--pure hydrogen gas, needed for
the fuel-cell cars that the Bush administration is
encouraging. Many energy gurus talk about a future in
which power stations would generate both electricity and
hydrogen for cars, all without producing any climate-
warming emissions.
For now, either approach is far too expensive: as much as
$100 per ton of carbon emissions avoided. The Energy
Department's research program aims to slash costs to $10
per ton or less by 2015. Private R&D is vital, too. But
mobilizing the private sector may mean giving companies
financial incentives to trim their emissions. Hawkins of
the Natural Resources Defense Council advocates a system
of tradable emissions credits--like the one that prompted
utilities to scrub acid-rain-causing sulfur from their
exhaust streams. Another approach is levying a tax on
carbon emissions.
The Bush administration has opposed such measures and
this month will announce plans for a voluntary reduction
program. Last month, however, 13 major corporations--
including DuPont, Ford, and Motorola--and the city of
Chicago pledged to create their own pilot credit-trading
system, called the Chicago Climate Exchange. The
participants agreed to reduce their emissions by 1
percent a year for four years. Any member that achieved
deeper cuts would be granted credits, which could be
traded to companies having trouble meeting their goal.
It's too soon to say whether carbon sequestration is the
answer to the greenhouse gas problem, a stopgap, or a
dead end. But like many other advocates, Princeton's
Pacala says he no longer feels depressed about global
warming. "Envision the solution," he says, "and you lose
the despair."
33) A FADING GREEN HOPE FOR CLIMATE
US News
February 10, 2003
Internet:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030210/misc/10carbon.b
.htm
It was a comforting dream while it lasted: Carbon dioxide
spewed into the air from tailpipes and smokestacks would
speed up the growth of forests. The forests in turn would
store the carbon in wood and soil, staving off climate
change. The theory even undergirded the Kyoto Protocol,
which allows countries to meet greenhouse gas targets by
planting trees as well as by trimming industrial
emissions. But the latest research has delivered an
unpleasant wake-up call.
Plants need carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and growth,
so it wasn't unreasonable to imagine that rising carbon
dioxide levels would act as a planetary fertilizer. In
1996, a team of researchers led by biogeochemist William
Schlesinger of Duke University began testing the theory.
They pumped tons of carbon dioxide daily from towers
rising over an experimental forest of loblolly pines
outside Chapel Hill, N.C. Meters measured gases entering
and leaving the pine needles; bands on the tree trunks
assessed their month-to-month growth. The initial results
were reassuring: When the researchers increased ambient
levels of the gas by about 50 percent, to levels expected
by midcentury, tree growth jumped by up to 25 percent.
But the longer they studied the forest, the more
complicated the picture looked. For starters, the growth
spurt lasted just four years. Later, the trees settled
back to growing only about 6 percent faster than their
neighbors. "The trees quickly run down key nutrients in
the soil," explains Schlesinger. Trees grown in carbon-
dioxide-enriched air also compensated by pumping more of
the carbon down through their roots to microbes in the
soil. Instead of storing the carbon in the soil as humus,
these organisms released much of it back into the air as
carbon dioxide.
After seven years amid the loblolly pines, Schlesinger
has concluded that we can't rely on the forests of the
future to store our excess carbon dioxide. "I would count
on nothing," he says flatly. To some scientists, that's
an argument for taking matters into our own hands and
looking for ways to bury the gas. To Schlesinger, though,
it underscores the hazards of tinkering with natural
systems. He thinks that the best solution to global
warming is to burn less coal, oil, and natural gas.
"Rather than trying to gather up marbles that have
spilled, let's not spill 'em in the first place." -B.C.
34) ASIAN POLLUTION CLOUD CHANGING CLIMATE, STUDY SAYS
National Geographic
February 10, 2003
Internet:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0210_0302
10_TVdust.html
When factories, power plants or automobiles spew
pollutants into the air, these emissions take to the wind
and travel wherever it blows. A toxic blend of soot, ash,
acids and other airborne particles crosses borders and
oceans—polluting faraway places and affecting climate,
rainfall and causing acid rain. An international
consortium of researchers from three different projects
are investigating one of the world's most potent sources
of air pollution: the so-called "Asian Express," created
over the last decade by rapid Asian industrialization,
which is driving changes in the Earth's atmosphere. A
series of recent studies tracked the brown pollution
cloud along its annual transpacific migration. Each
spring, strong winds blow east from Central China,
gathering dust which acts like a sponge, soaking up
pollution from East Asia's thick blanket of smog.
This dirty particulate stew most directly threatens
Japan, Korea and Taiwan. But this brown cloud can blow
eastward across 6,000 miles of ocean to the United States
in only four to 10 days—too little time for the air to be
cleansed over the sea. Given the pass-along nature of
pollution, however, researchers point out that every
region of the world makes its contribution. "The amount
of pollution we get from Asia is probably not
dramatically different from what we send to Europe, and
Europe sends to Asia," says Barry Joe Huebert, an
atmospheric chemist at the University of Hawaii in
Honolulu. "We have to think of atmosphere chemistry and
its impact on air quality and climate as global issues."
Huebert and other authorities on wind borne pollution
presented their findings in December at the annual
meeting of American Geophysical Union. Their research
identified the major sources of pollution and quantified
how much reaches North America. "The ultimate use of
this data will be for setting policy for the use of
fossil fuels and other pollutants we put into the
atmosphere," said Huebert. During spring 2001 and 2002,
hundreds of scientists from 13 countries joined forces to
study air pollution from Asia. The international team
tracked and sampled dust plumes from ground stations,
aircraft, ships and by satellite.
ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS
Huebert headed the research team for the Aerosol
Characterization Experiments, or ACE-Asia, which
concentrated on aerosols—tiny solid or liquid particles
suspended in the atmosphere. Some aerosols come from
natural sources like dust from volcanoes and deserts. But
most come from human activities like burning wood and
coal. Asia is one of the largest sources of aerosols on
the Earth. Aerosols can harm human health by causing
asthma and through exposure to the carcinogens they
harbor, including arsenic, lead, chromium, selenium and
other toxic materials. Aerosols powerfully affect the
environment and climate. They absorb the acids that
create acid rain. They reflect sunlight and influence
rainfall patterns, affecting weather and global climate
change. Understanding the way they affect climate is one
of the more perplexing problems for atmospheric
scientists. Atmospheric scientists are puzzling over the
interaction of aerosols and other factors like greenhouse
gases—carbon dioxide and other gases that trap the sun's
heat and warm the Earth's atmosphere.
ALTERING CLIMATE
"While many parts of Earth are warming up because of
greenhouse gases, in places where there are huge
concentrations of aerosols, there is actually cooling,"
said Huebert. In April, for example, the surface cooling
effect of aerosols downwind of Asia is 10 percent higher
than warming caused by greenhouse gases, Huebert notes.
When you increase temperature differences between places,
it may increase the severity of storms, like hurricanes,"
Huebert says. "One possibility is that this could cause
more severe storms, more droughts and more floods."
Although the climatic impact of this cooling is still
being assessed, scientists do know that these temperature
disparities have great impact on the water cycle. "When
air is warmer than the Earth below it, you reduce
evaporation and the formation of clouds—which reduces
rainfall," explained Huebert.
GOOD AND BAD NEWS
Researchers presented good news as well as bad. One
study, Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific
(TRACE-P), "sniffed air coming out of China to learn what
was being emitted," says project leader Daniel J. Jacob,
an atmospheric chemist from Harvard University in
Cambridge, Mass. Jacob's team tested for about 100
different "species" of pollutants, including greenhouse
gases, aerosols and ozone. Although nothing on the list
had significantly improved since 1994, "there hasn't been
the kind of explosive growth that was predicted," Jacob
says. An exception was soot and carbon, caused by low-
tech polluters like wood- and dung-burning stoves and
cooking fires, as well as dirty industries. "There was
also a lot of biomass burning from forest fires in
Cambodia and Thailand," Jacob says.
ASIAN OZONE COMES TO CALIFORNIA
Another study examined ozone levels reaching California
from across the Pacific and discovered that they are 30
percent higher than levels detected in 1985. "The
increase in ozone is surprising," says David P. Parrish,
an atmospheric chemist with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Aeronomy Lab in Boulder,
Colo., and head of the Intercontinental Transport and
Chemical Transformation study. "It was larger than we
expected. It reduces the room we have to mess up our own
air." "To address the problem, we will need an
international consortium of governments willing to make
policy based on the best available scientific consensus,"
Huebert says. In a world where prevailing winds can push
pollution clouds like the Asian Express halfway around
the world in a week's time, these new findings underscore
how no nation is an island.
35) ARAB STATES CLAIM CO2 TARGETS COULD CAUSE SLUMP
Independent
February 9, 2003
Internet:
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?sto
ry=376612
Powerful Arab oil producers have hardened their stance on
climate change in a defiant statement dismissing claims
that oil consumption is the main cause of global warming.
In a deliberate challenge to the United Nations-led
consensus on climate change, ministers of 13 Arab oil
producers claimed they had an inalienable right to
continue producing oil and to continue increasing the
region's wealth from oil sales. But at the same time the
bloc, which includes leading producers such as Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates,
claimed they deserved substantial compensation and new
technology subsidies if the world pressed ahead with cuts
in oil use.
Their lengthy and at times contradictory declaration,
signed during a regional conference on energy and the
environment in Abu Dhabi last week, claimed environmental
protection and climate change were pretexts to damage the
region's economic interests. "Such unfounded allegations
and doubts would make victims of the oil and gas sector,
and may result in a recession in world demand, thus
harming the interests of producers," it read. In another
passage, the signatories of the so-called Abu Dhabi
Declaration said they "re-affirmed the necessity of a
continuous and unobstructed supply of oil and gas to
international markets". Their blunt dismissal of the
climate change case will be read with dismay by
climatologists, the UN and environmentalists, as it
appears to strengthen the anti-Kyoto Protocol camp led,
ironically, by the United States.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi a day after the declaration was
signed, Claude Martin, the director-general of the
wildlife charity WWF International, accused the
signatories of "living in denial". The Arab world, he
said, had only three or four decades before their oil
reserves ran out and new sources of energy emerged. "That
is the bottom line: diversify your economies," he said.
"Denial will not lead anywhere and just leads to delays.
It's bad politics and does not serve the interests of
their countries." The declaration was signed by states
accounting for roughly 40 per cent of global oil and gas
production. Worryingly for the UN, it makes clear that
the Arab world plans to exact a heavy price for accepting
future cuts in its oil revenues, which is expected to
involve substantial help in developing new technologies
and industries.
Continued oil production, the signatories insisted, was
central to tackling poverty in the region and to ensuring
the "sustainable development" of their economies – code
for guaranteeing the long-term protection of their oil
exports. However, the statement repeatedly stressed the
need for oil producers to make their industry as
environmentally friendly as possible, for example by
focusing on clean production techniques, by developing
new techniques to dispose of CO2 safely, by completely
cutting waste gas "flaring", and by supporting lead-free
and low-sulphur fuels. Although the statement fails to
set any regional targets for CO2 reduction, seasoned
observers believe its numerous concessions on the
environment suggest Arab states will eventually accept
climate change is a reality. Many younger Arab ministers
are thought privately to accept that the scientific case
has been made, but are determined to ensure their
economic wealth and political survival are not harmed in
the process.
36) MCCREEVY URGED TO HONOUR PLEDGE ON CARBON TAX
Examiner (Ireland)
February 8, 2003
Internet: http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/ireland/Full_
Story/did-sgqasYGg3lkYY.asp
FINANCE Minister Charlie McCreevy was urged yesterday to
follow through on his promise to introduce a carbon tax
as soon as possible. The Green Party have called for the
measure in each of Mr McCreevy’s budgets over the past
six years. Environment Minister Martin Cullen has also
backed the move as a means of reaching Ireland’s
commitments under the Kyoto protocol. The tax will apply
to coal, gas, petrol, diesel and other fuels.
At the publication of the Finance Bill this week, Mr
McCreevy said the public must start to be aware that the
introduction of the carbon tax next year will increase
the cost of fuel and electricity. But the rate at which
the tax will be introduced has yet to be confirmed by Mr
McCreevy. The Government was afraid to introduce the tax
as it would have inflationary implications and harm the
competitiveness of the economy, Mr McCreevy said.
Mr McCreevy set up an inter-departmental working group to
examine the options available to him in introducing the
tax. The report of the group is being considered by him.
Last night Green Party finance spokesman Dan Boyle said
the carbon tax should be introduced as a substitute for
other taxes, although he felt this was unlikely.“The
minister is looking for sources of additional funding
rather than reforming the system,” he said.
37) RUSSIA: WILD CARD IN KYOTO PACT
Wired
February 8, 2003
Internet:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57499,00.html
Fears are mounting among environmentalists that the Bush
administration has embarked on a fresh effort to kill an
international treaty on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions
by pressuring Russia to bow out, too. Late last year,
Canada joined Europe in ratifying the controversial Kyoto
Protocol, which President Bush had famously declared
"dead." That left Russia as the last variable in the
tense worldwide wrangling over the protocol's fate. If it
gets ratified -- as President Vladimir Putin announced
last year it would -- enough countries would be on board
to trigger worldwide implementation.
That would be a political setback for the United States,
which has recently been trumpeting its own program to
reduce pollution by encouraging large corporations to
make voluntary efforts. A lineup of 14 prominent U.S.
corporations, including DuPont, Ford Motor Company and
Motorola, announced in January that they were forming the
Chicago Climate Exchange for trading greenhouse-gas
emissions. To many observers, Russia seemed to change its
public stance on Kyoto following a recent visit to Moscow
by Harlan Watson, the State Department's senior climate
negotiator and special representative. Whether Watson was
working behind the scenes to encourage the Russians not
to ratify the treaty, or it's merely a matter of timing,
speculation has been rampant that the United States has
been flexing its diplomatic muscle.
"Many, many people think that they are trying to push
Russia out of Kyoto," said Alexey Kokorin, who handles
climate-change issues for the Russian branch of the World
Wildlife Fund, adding that given the expected secrecy
behind any U.S. efforts, he had no hard facts to go on.
The Bush administration rejected the Kyoto Protocol in
March 2001, leaving many to conclude that the treaty was
doomed. But that July in Bonn, Germany, a compromise
version of the treaty was agreed upon. It sets targets
for reductions in emissions of heat-trapping gases below
1990 levels.
Watson could not be reached at the State Department for
comment, but U.S. officials have denied lobbying Russia
on Kyoto. However, the two countries now plan to work
together to formulate policy on climate change -- and
will hold a conference this fall in Russia on the topic.
The central issue is economics. Many experts believe that
the protocol would have a positive economic impact in
Russia, since the new system would feature buying and
selling of so-called emissions credits. Russia, with its
vast geography, would be in a position to sell credits.
But in January, Russia began emphasizing potential
economic disadvantages of the protocol. "Concern about
the economic impact on the United States is one of the
key considerations that led President Bush to reject the
Kyoto Protocol," Watson reminded his hosts during his
visit to Russia. Alexey Kuraev of the Russian Regional
Ecological Center said that while behind-the-scenes
pressures would be difficult to detect, the U.S.
government's public opposition to the protocol has forced
Russia to change its own thinking. "Naturally the U.S.
government does not officially pressure Russia not to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol," Kuraev said. "But after the
United States withdrew from Kyoto, some of the
influential Russian politicians started to say that Kyoto
lost economic value for Russia."
But the creation of the Chicago Climate Exchange
indicates that, even with no U.S. participation in Kyoto,
it will be closely involved in emissions trading. Some
speculate that the United States is trying to provide
political cover to establish its own approach to
mitigating global warming. "We hear the United States is
going to propose to Russia to develop a new international
agreement on greenhouse gases that would be an
alternative to Kyoto," said Kuraev. "This fact slowed
down ratification of Kyoto by Russia also."
38) GERMAN NUCLEAR POWER EXIT JARS WITH CO2 GOALS - DATF
Planet Ark
February 7, 2003
Internet:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/19732/
story.htm
FRANKFURT - Germany's plans to give up nuclear power and
fill the supply gap from coal, gas and renewable sources
conflicts with its greenhouse gas reduction targets, the
country's nuclear industry lobby said. "Depending on the
share of each energy resource (other than nuclear) that
will mean between 80 and 130 million tons of additional
CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions," the president of the
Berlin-based Deutsche Atomforum (DAtF) said in a
statement.
Gert Maichel, who also heads German utility RWE's
(RWEG.DE) energy plant division RWE Power, said this
total dwarfed the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions
that Germany still had to make under the Kyoto pact on
global warming. "Compared to that (amount of CO2
emissions), the 24 million tons of CO2 which we still
need to cut, to fulfil German Kyoto commitments, seem
small," Maichel said. The German government aims to
entirely ditch nuclear power, which accounts for almost a
third of German power generation of 550 terawatt hours
(TWh), by the early 2020s.
Germany is also pressing on with political targets to
slash emissions of greenhouse gases, which largely rule
out the promotion of "dirty" coal-based technology. The
Kyoto Protocol, agreed by the United Nations in 1997,
aims to reduce the developed world's output of the gases
which trap heat in the atmosphere with potentially grave
long-term consequences for the global environment.
Maichel said a EU proposal to make power firms manage
their decommissioning funds - money kept to pay for the
dismantling of old nuclear plants - separately from the
rest of their balance sheet was legally unfounded. "As
long as there is no harmonisation in (nuclear) waste
disposal within the EU, firms in Germany will be
disadvantaged, as they have taken high precautionary
measures due to sophisticated (German) laws," he added.
The European Parliament has called for a change in
legislation to stop power companies with large
decommissioning funds from using the money to buy up
competitors. Nuclear power aside, coal makes up 52
percent of Germany's annual power production and gas nine
percent while renewables and minor sources provide the
rest.
39) RUSSIA URGED TO RATIFY KYOTO PROTOCOL: WWF AND
GREENPEACE CALL ON EU HEADS OF STATE FOR SWIFT ACTION
WWF
February 7, 2003
Internet:
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/other_news/news.
cfm?uNewsID=5781
Brussels, Belgium - In a joint letter, WWF and Greenpeace
have today called upon EU Heads of State and governments
to put further pressure on the Russian government for
timely ratification of the Kyoto Climate Treaty by the
Russian Federation. The letter, jointly signed by Claude
Martin, Director General of WWF International, and Gerd
Leipold, Executive Director of Greenpeace International,
appeals to EU Heads of State to send President Putin a
letter urging ratification of the Kyoto Protocol this
spring.
WWF and Greenpeace are concerned that the extraordinary
leadership shown by EU governments will all have been for
naught unless the EU and its partners act quickly and
decisively in this matter. Without external pressure the
process will be further delayed, which will contradict
Russian statements made at the World Summit for
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last September,
where Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov promised
swift ratification of the Kyoto Climate Treaty.
WWF and Greenpeace suggest that EU Heads of State's
requests to Russia should indicate interest and
willingness to assist in the implementation of the treaty
through joint implementation and inventory projects, and
state that the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol will
give Russia additional advantages in the development of
gas exports to European markets. Timing is critical, in
that if ratification is not considered and endorsed by
the Spring session of the Duma, then it will likely be
put off by at least one year, due to upcoming Duma
elections this autumn and presidential elections in March
2004.
Russia's ratification is the last step for the Kyoto
Climate Treaty to enter into force. Currently 104
countries have ratified the treaty, accounting for a
total of 44.07 per cent of the industrialized countries'
emissions in 1990. The treaty requires, however, that the
ratifying countries represent 55 per cent of the
emissions - which can only be achieved if Russia ratifies.
40) PREMATURE DASH FOR HYDROGEN WOULD NOT BE BENEFICIAL
FOR ENVIRONMENT
Edie weekly summaries
February 7, 2003
Internet:
http://www.edie.net/gf.cfm?L=left_frame.html&R=http://www
.edie.net/news/Archive/6625.cfm
A premature ‘dash for hydrogen’ to fuel vehicles, using
up the world’s renewable energy resources to produce the
gas would not be environmentally beneficial, according to
a new study by researchers in the UK. At the end of last
month, US President George W Bush announced that he would
be pushing for an additional US$1.2 billion for research
into hydrogen fuel (see related story). But at the same
time, UK researchers are warning that the development of
the hydrogen economy – in particular how hydrogen is
produced – needs to be carefully thought out if there are
to be environmental benefits.
According to the report by researchers from the Energy
Saving Trust, the Institute for European Environmental
Policy and the National Society for Clean Air, the best
medium term strategy for cutting greenhouse gas emissions
would be to focus on more efficient use of fossil fuels,
and to introduce fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen
produced from biofuels. This would mean that mass market
fuel cells should only be introduced at a rate consistent
with the ability of biofuels to supply the gas. Focusing
on developing hydrogen power as the replacement for the
current “unique” fossil fuel dependence of vehicles could
preclude the development of other, comparatively
beneficial technologies. Rather than using renewable
energy to generate hydrogen – until a time when there is
a surplus of renewable energy – higher carbon savings
would be achieved by displacing electricity from fossil
fuel power stations.
“There is no doubt that, long-term, the transport sector
could use substantial amounts of hydrogen from
renewables,” said co-author Richard Mills of the National
Society for Clean Air. In the medium term, however,
hydrogen will come from natural gas, he added. The
cheapest route to producing hydrogen is from gas,
according to the study, and there would be some potential
carbon benefits if high efficiency fuel cell vehicles
were used. However, according to Mills, it would make
more sense to burn the gas directly in vehicles. There
would also be benefits – though not as great – if fuel
cells were used in petrol or diesel hybrid vehicles.
However, there would be significant carbon benefits if
woody biomass was used to produce fuel for cars. This
could take the form of hydrogen, methanol, or ethanol.
Woody biomass would offer a cheaper and faster route to
hydrogen than using renewable energy. If 25% of the UK’s
agricultural land were planted with indigenous wood crops
subsequently being converted to methanol, ethanol or
hydrogen, most or even all of UK road transport demand
could be satisfied, according to the study. There are
reasons other than shorter term environmental benefits
and costs for developing fuel cell vehicles, admits the
report. This includes helping to build competitive
advantage for a country’s car industries, which can be
done by encouraging niche markets, developing expertise
and experience.
41) GREENHOUSE GAS WATCHDOG IS TOO GREEN, SAYS REVIEW
Sydney Morning Herald
February 6, 2003
Internet:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/05/1044318669396.h
tml
The agency that oversees the reduction of Australia's
greenhouse gas emissions has been accused of ignoring
industry concerns to pursue a pro-environment agenda. An
independent review, by the former Howard Government
minister Warwick Smith, also recommended that the
Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) be merged with the
federal environment department, and that negotiations on
the global Kyoto protocol be left to the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade. "There remain perceptions in
some areas that the AGO is still not pursuing a whole-of-
government agenda and, in particular, has a bias towards
environment at the expense of industry interests," wrote
Mr Smith, who is now a director with Macquarie Bank.
He has made seven recommendations about the future of the
agency, created by the Federal Government in 1998. Since
then the agency has had to deal with the often divergent
claims of industry and environmental groups, but has been
without a permanent head since the middle of last year.
Mr Smith recommended that the office lose its independent
status and be merged with the federal environment
department after industry representatives complained to
him that the agency was ignoring their concerns for the
sake of environmental outcomes.
While the agency should still continue to play a role in
domestic policy formulation, Mr Smith recommended that it
should "take a subordinate role on international
greenhouse issues to the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade". A further review should also be undertaken to
see if other agencies would be more effective managers of
the AGO's almost $1billion in programs to cut greenhouse
gas emissions. The federal Environment Minister, David
Kemp, yesterday accepted five of the review's seven
recommendations but said the office would retain its
executive agency status.
Other recommendations, including the direction the office
should allow the Department of Foreign Affairs to take a
lead role in international negotiations, were accepted,
though the department said this formalised an existing
arrangement. A spokeswoman for Dr Kemp said that industry
needed to be consulted on greenhouse issues because it
was responsible for most of Australia's emissions. "Even
if all the households in Australia cut their energy
consumption by half it wouldn't produce the kind of big
cuts industry can provide," she said.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, last year ruled out
Australia ratifying the Kyoto protocol because it was not
in the country's best interests. But the Federal
Government remains committed to meeting its Kyoto-
negotiated target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to
108 per cent above 1990 levels by 2010. Last year's audit
of emissions found Australia would miss that target, with
emissions predicted to be 111 per cent above the 1990
levels by 2010. The Opposition spokesman on the
environment, Kelvin Thomson, said the Smith review had
been a "flop", producing nothing more than a "collection
of shallow insights". "There is no leadership or sense
of direction on climate change while all the evidence of
drought and bushfires suggests the situation requires
urgent attention," he said.
42) HAZY VISION, INEXPLICABLE INDIAN TACTICS AT
ENVIRONMENT MEET
Financial Express
February 6, 2003 Internet:
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content
_id=27475
The Asian Brown Cloud is back in the news, this time
clouding the Global Ministerial Environment Forum
underway in Nairobi. The Indian delegation arrived at the
meet not just insecure in the knowledge that the cloud
was on the official agenda, but also armed with a healthy
dose of churlishness, evident in the refuge it took in
scientific ambiguity and global politics while
attempting, unsuccessfully, to evade any discussion over
it. To be sure, we accept that the preliminary United
Nations Assessment Report released last year fails to
satisfactorily answer questions on the nature and impact
of the cloud.
Moreover, environmental waters have indeed been muddied
by politics: In so far as it establishes a (premature)
link between the cloud and global warming, the report can
be used by the developed world to pressurise developing
countries (DCs) to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions,
an obligation which the Kyoto Protocol exempts them from,
much to the First World’s consternation. This is
especially probable, given that past such attempts — made
regularly at multilateral environment fora — have all
failed. We also endorse India’s demand that similar
studies be undertaken around the globe. After all, there
is little reason to believe that industrial development-
related pollution is limited to the Asian continent.
Nevertheless, the Indian attempt to sweep the cloud under
the carpet is regrettable. For, the following facts are
rather unambiguous. The haze/cloud (parties have begun
bickering over semantics!) does exist. India’s
overwhelming reliance on fossil fuels, the widespread
practice of clearing land for agriculture by burning
trees, and use of bio-fuels do contribute to air
pollution. And, indoor air pollution has led to close to
500,000 premature deaths in the country, with millions
others suffering from related maladies. Now, contrast the
above with the signals that have emanated from Nairobi.
By failing to acknowledge the existence of a development-
oriented environmental problem, has the government
effectively diluted its oft-articulated commitment to
sustainable development?
Worse still, does this mean that concrete action to
tackle air pollution will be on hold till a more damning
report arrives on the scene? It would have been far more
desirable for the government to have taken a positive,
albeit aggressive, stance of admitting to the existence
of the haze, and of highlighting measures taken to
promote green fuels, to make available clean technology
et al, without mincing words on the need to further
refine the study. Publicising voluntary remedial
strategies adopted would have served a dual purpose: One,
it would have reassured its people that India takes air
pollution seriously, and two, it would have worked to
counter global pressure to clean up our act. Alas, too
often have Indian policymakers substituted tactics for
strategy.
43) MINISTERS FIGHT OVER POSSIBLE $1B KYOTO FUND
The Ottawa Citizen
February 6, 2003
Internet:
http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=CA3E76F2-2600-
4C78-96E6-B150F164B0B0
Federal cabinet ministers are scrapping over how to spend
up to $1 billion that Finance Minister John Manley is
expected to allocate to Kyoto initiatives in next week's
budget. Although the amount set aside for Kyoto will
remain a secret until the budget is tabled, estimates
range from $500 million to $1.2 billion. But instead of
being allocated to specific programs in the budget, that
money will be put in a pot and divvied up later, when the
government can agree on how to spend it, sources said.
The four ministers heading the departments of Natural
Resources, Environment, Transport and Agriculture were
supposed to send a joint memorandum to cabinet in
January, asking for funding for climate change programs
in the upcoming budget. But the four ministers couldn't
agree on which programs to fund. Environment Minister
David Anderson has said publicly that his top priorities
are a tax incentive for consumers who purchase
environmentally friendly cars and a rebate program for
people who upgrade energy efficiency in their homes. But
Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal said earlier
this week that his top priorities for climate change
would be investments in new technology and partnership
funds with the provinces and industry. The department
also wants funding to renew energy efficiency programs
that are ending this year.
Transport Minister David Collenette has long boosted
increased train travel as a way to reduce greenhouse
gases. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department under
minister Lyle Vanclief wants programs that would allow
farmers to sell the carbon dioxide absorbed in their
fields for greenhouse gas credits. An incentive program
for ethanol -- a grain-based fuel with fewer greenhouse
gas emissions than gasoline -- has support from half a
dozen cabinet ministers and 95 Liberal backbenchers. The
ethanol industry alone is asking for a $400-million
subsidy.
Canadian Alliance environment critic Bob Mills said this
week that the disagreement is evidence that the
government has no coherent plan to meet the Kyoto target
of reducing Canada's annual greenhouse gas emissions by
240 tonnes by the year 2010. The government came out
with a Kyoto plan before Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
ratified the protocol in December 2002, but the plan
contained no specific cost estimates or timelines. "You
have to be specific. If it just gets thrown into a pot,
it gets frittered away," Mr. Mills said. "They don't have
a plan. They don't have a plan at all."
One of the reasons the ministers and officials were
unable to reach consensus is that they did not know how
much money would be allocated to climate change. The
prime minister's top priority for this budget was health
care, and no other budget figures had been completed
until the federal-provincial health accord was reached
last week. As a result of last week's first ministers'
meeting, the budget will contain a commitment to spend an
additional $17.3 billion over the next three years in
"federal investments" for health care. Of that amount,
$3.9 billion was previously promised by the federal
government in its 2000 health accord and $3.4 billion
will be spent on federal programs -- leaving only $10
billion in "new" money to be transferred to the provinces
for health care. The military is expected to reap an
additional $800 million for each of the next three years.
The budget is also expected to provide $30 million in the
coming year to fight homelessness and $500 million to
increase the national child tax benefit for poorer
families. The current disagreement over Kyoto is a
continuation of years of infighting between officials in
the Environment Department, who wanted to move
aggressively to curb greenhouse gases, and those in
Natural Resources, who were concerned about the economic
impacts on the oil and gas industry.
44) FOREST FOR THE FUTURE
Daily Post
February 6, 2003Internet:
http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews/pag
e.cfm?objectid=12612783&method=full
SCIENTISTS in North Wales are creating mini time machines
to study which trees will thrive in the changed climate
of 2083. And the research being carried out by the
University of Wales, Bangor, could point the way to
planting the right trees now to soak up increased levels
of carbon dioxide, 80 years ahead. Working at the Henfaes
field station on the outskirts of the village of Aber,
near Llanfairfechan, the experts are developing the Free
Air Carbon Exchange (Face) - the first of its kind in the
UK - which will mimic future atmospheric conditions.
The team, led by Douglas Godbold, professor of forest
sciences, will use Face to measure how trees will react
to climate change conditions in Wales. Key to the project
will be a unique system of pipes, with minute holes, to
feed young trees, mostly pine, birch, oak and birch, with
constant meas-ured and regulated releases of carbon
dioxide (CO2). Instead of being inside greenhouses, the
project is carried out in the open air. "The trees will
be encircled by the pipes," said a university
spokeswoman. "Initially the first cycle of controlled
experiments will take between three to four years and
there will be no harmful consequences to the local
atmosphere, flora or fauna."
Professor Godbold, who has experience of working on a
similar facility in Italy, said: "The single factor
common to all predictions of climate change is that
atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will increase. "While
governments can set targets to reduce activities such as
the burning of fossil fuels, that contribute carbon
dioxide to the atmosphere, one of the measures that can
be taken to balance the situation is to plant more trees,
which absorb it as a form of fertiliser."
At Bangor scientists are interested in two areas of
research - at what point increased planting will help
balance things out, and what species of trees will thrive
in 50 to 80 years. Prof Godbold said the National
Assembly's new afforestation strat-egy recognised the
need for new areas of woodland in Wales. "It also
includes a move towards continuous cover forestry
involving growing a rotation of mixed broadleaved and
evergreen trees of varying ages which are individually
felled on maturity. "We need to find out now what trees
are going to thrive best in 80 years' time and that is
why the Face facility is so important. It will enable us
to identify the optimum mix of trees which will thrive,
not only in today's climate but also in the future."
* Traditional means of study of CO2's effects have been
confined to pot-grown plants and greenhouse facilities
such as the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology's at
Henfaes.
45) WIND POWERS WORLD WILDLIFE FUND HEADQUARTERS
ENS
February 5, 2003
Internet: http://ens-news.com/ens/feb2003/2003-02-05-
09.asp#anchor7
WASHINGTON, DC, February 5, 2003 (ENS) - The World
Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Washington DC headquarters will
soon derive 10 percent of its annual power needs from
wind energy. The environmental group's headquarters is
in a 235,759 square foot facility with eight floors plus
a two level parking garage, housing several businesses in
addition to WWF's U.S. operations. "Wind energy is an
important part of the solution to global warming," said
David Sandalow, executive vice president of WWF. "Like
us, millions of Americans are eager to buy clean energy
and be part of the solution."
The use of clean renewable energy resources helps reduce
carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gas emissions that
cause global warming and release other toxic pollutants.
The WWF's commitment to renewable energy is in keeping
with its efforts to combat global warming through its
Climate Change Program. The wind energy used by WWF will
be produced by The Mountaineer Wind Energy Center, the
largest wind power project east of the Mississippi River.
The output from Mountaineer, located on Backbone Mountain
in West Virginia, is marketed by Community Energy, Inc.
and delivered in the DC metro area through Washington Gas
Energy Services.
46) COMMISSION ACTS TO IMPROVE MONITORING OF GREENHOUSE
GAS EMISSIONS EU
February 5, 2003
Internet: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.k
sh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/187|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display
The European Commission today proposed the strengthening
of the existing EU system for monitoring greenhouse gas
emissions to bring it in line with obligations under the
Kyoto Protocol. This proposal will help the EU and the
Member States to comply with their international
commitments in the area of Climate change. It will
improve the completeness and transparency of EC
greenhouse gas data and EU climate change policies.
Notably, the new system will introduce further
harmonisation of emission forecasts in addition to
reinforcing the EU rules applying to monitoring of
greenhouse gas emissions. The new monitoring system will
also cover the Kyoto Protocol's so-called 'flexible
mechanisms' (emission trading, the Clean Development
Mechanism and Joint Implementation) and registries.
Thereby, not only emissions, but also emission rights
will be monitored through the new system.
Environment Commissioner Wallström said: "To ensure that
the EU is on track to meet its Kyoto target and deliver
the agreed reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, we need
a more effective system to check emissions trends.
Current emissions forecasts carry a lot of uncertainty
and need to be improved. We are therefore proposing some
additional common rules in this area." The proposal for a
European Parliament and Council Decision would replace
the existing Council Decision 93/389/EC on the monitoring
of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and includes the
following improvements:
* It reflects the reporting obligations and guidelines
for the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change ("UNFCCC") and the Kyoto Protocol, as set
out in the political agreement and legal decisions taken
at major Climate change conferences held in Bonn and
Marrakech in 2001(COP6 and COP7). As a result, more
information on the methods used to collect the emission
data will be available, as agreed in the rules on the
inventory system of the Kyoto Protocol.
* It provides for further harmonisation of emission
forecasts at Member State and EU-level, for example, the
methodologies and models used, as well as underlying
assumptions and key input and output parameters will have
to be reported .
* It widens the scope of Greenhouse Gas Monitoring in the
EU which, in future, will cover areas such as the
flexible mechanisms and registries established under the
Kyoto Protocol. As a result, the emissions of the six
greenhouse gases will be monitored and Emission rights
will also come under surveillance.
Currently Member States have to report on their climate
change programmes and emission projections annually. In
future they would have to do so only every two years, but
the latter data will be substantiallly refined through
the new monitoring system. The Commission proposes to
strengthen the surveillance of emissions forecasting as
there is a need for more comprehensive and detailed data
in this area. These emission forecasts are a central
aspect of ensuring the EU's compliance with the
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
In order to improve comparability between Member States,
projection information needs to include:
* Projected emissions "with measures" and "with
additional measures", as mentioned in the guidelines of
the UNFCCC
* clear identification of the policies and measures
included in the projections
* results of 'sensitivity analysis' performed for the
projections
* descriptions of methodologies, models, underlying
assumptions and key input and output parameters
47) WINNIPEG COMMODITY EXCHANGE EYES EMISSIONS TRADING
Reuters
February 5, 2003
Internet: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/
nm/20030206/wl_canada_nm/canada_energy_kyoto_credits_col_1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Winnipeg Commodity
Exchange is proposing to trade credits in carbon dioxide
emissions to help Canadian companies reach targets under
the Kyoto accord, the WCE said on Wednesday. "As Canada's
only commodity exchange, we think we have a lot to offer
in this area," said Bruce Love, the exchange's marketing
director. "It's really a business opportunity for us."
Canada on Dec. 17, formally ratified the Kyoto accord on
global warming despite fierce opposition from major
energy producers in the country. The accord requires
Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent
below 1990 levels by 2012. Emissions are now roughly one-
fifth above 1990 levels. "There really aren't a lot of
details on what the implementation of Kyoto in Canada is
going to look like, that's a matter before the federal
government right now," Love said. The 116-year-old
exchange, which has open outcry markets for canola,
barley, feed wheat and flax futures and options, has set
up a separate company to explore electronic trading of
carbon credits, called Canadian Climate Exchange Inc.
It would enable companies that reduce emissions below
government-set targets to trade their credits with those
that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, Love said,
adding potential users include petrochemical companies.
The new company has not yet begun discussions with
federal government players, Love said. Last year, the
World Bank estimated $500 million of carbon emissions, or
roughly 200 million tonnes, have changed hands since
trading began in 1996. A voluntary carbon emissions
market launched in the United Kingdom last April had
attracted about 800 companies to open trading accounts by
Jan. 31, far short of the 6,000 expected. European Union
environment ministers agreed in December to create the
world's first mandatory international carbon trading
system in the EU by 2005 -- a market some analysts have
said could be worth $8 billion by 2007. ($1=$1.52
Canadian).
48) GLOBAL WARMING MAY WORSEN MERCURY POLLUTION - UN
Planet Ark
February 4, 2003
Internet: http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/new
sid/19693/story.htm
NAIROBI - Mercury pollution must be tackled before global
warming exacerbates its noxious effects, the United
Nations warned yesterday it its first report into the
worldwide dangers posed by the heavy metal. The U.N.
Environment Programme (UNEP) said activities from gold
mining to burning coal in power stations had tripled
mercury levels in the air since pre-industrial times.
Mercury works its way into the food chain, with women and
children most at risk from poisoning, which can cause
brain and nerve damage resulting in impaired
coordination, blurred vision, tremors, irritability and
memory loss. "Mercury levels have to be reduced and we
want governments to start to take steps to do this
immediately," UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer told
reporters at a conference of environment ministers in the
Kenyan capital Nairobi. "Things could get worse in the
coming years, as increases in temperature also appear to
help the spread of the mercury."
UNEP's first report into the global impact of mercury
pollution said more than 1,500 tonnes of the hazardous
substance is pumped into the skies every year by power
stations, with Asia and then Africa the worst culprits.
Small-scale mining, where mercury is used to help extract
gold and silver from ores, is another main source of the
pollution, releasing about 400-500 tonnes of mercury each
year. UNEP said a U.S. study found about one in 12 women
there had mercury levels in their bodies above those
deemed safe by national authorities. Scientists predict
that as a result, up to 300,000 babies in the United
States could be at risk of brain damage with possible
impacts from learning difficulties to impaired nervous
systems.
Mercury poisoning also threatens animals such as otters,
minx, osprey, eagles and some whales which feed on fish,
which scientists say are readily contaminated by mercury
pollution. UNEP hopes up to 100 environment ministers
will attend the five-day conference at its Nairobi
headquarters, which opened yesterday, to discuss how to
implement resolutions from the Johannesburg World Summit
on Sustainable Development in September.
49) INDUSTRY MAY SOFTEN TO AUSTRALIAN KYOTO STANCE
ABC
February 4, 2003
Internet: http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s776680.htm
There are indications Australian industry could soften
its stance against Australia becoming a signatory to the
Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The
Australian Industry Group (AIG) has been engaged in a
consultation process with its members to look again at
the benefits versus the disadvantages of signing up to
the treaty. The Business Council of Australia has been
doing the same thing.
AIG deputy chief executive Heather Ridout says businesses
and industry need more information about the full effects
of ratification. "I don't think at the moment businesses
would feel confident enough to sign on to a protocol or
to support the signing on to a protocol that's going to
push up the costs of their doing business and make them
less competitive in terms of trade," she said. "The
options to redress that need to be put in place much more
squarely in the minds of business and that's a dialogue
we're having with government and others in the community
who are interested in the issue."
50) NEW TECHNOLOGY COULD CUT GREENHOUSE GASES
Number 10
February 4, 2003
Internet: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page7135.asp
New technology could help to achieve big cuts in
greenhouse gas emissions over the next 50 years, a report
has concluded. The ICCEPT (Imperial College Centre for
Energy Policy and Technology) report was commissioned to
analyse the potential of low carbon technologies. It
highlighted the most promising options for reducing
carbon emission reductions as:
* Renewable energy - Solar energy alone could meet world
energy demand using less than 1% of land currently used
for agriculture.
* Energy efficiency - It is estimated that one half of
future emissions could be eliminated through improved
energy efficiency.
* Hydrogen - As a fuel carrier and store rather than an
energy resource, hydrogen has the ability to provide
energy with no local emissions other than water vapour.
The main conclusion is that it would be technologically
and economically feasible to move to a low carbon
emissions path, and achieve a virtually zero carbon
energy system in the long term, if we used energy more
efficiently and developed and used low carbon
technologies. Prime Minister Tony Blair has expressed
his support for technological solutions, particularly to
reduce green house gas emissions.
51) EARTH A SOLUTION TO AIR POLLUTION? SCIENTISTS
CONSIDER INJECTING GREENHOUSE GASES INTO GROUND
Chicago Tribune
February 3, 2003
Internet: http://www.ledger-
enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/5093869.htm
CHICAGO - (KRT) - The plan to landfill air pollution
might seem laughable. As a stopgap solution to global
warming, scientists have proposed capturing several
billion tons of carbon dioxide from the air and injecting
it deep into the earth for long-term storage.No one knows
whether vast amounts of the greenhouse gas would stay put
2 miles below ground. Nevertheless, an increasing number
of experts - including some environmentalists - believe
the idea isn't as harebrained as it might sound.
With carbon dioxide emissions rising steadily in the U.S.
and around the world, countries are casting about for
ways to reduce the heat-trapping pollution. In the
meantime, scientists say it can be unloaded into dark
reaches of the earth, including saline aquifers, depleted
oil wells, coal seams and the ocean. The sprawling
Illinois Basin, which extends into Indiana and western
Kentucky, offers an ideal location to study three of the
methods, say Illinois State Geological Survey officials.
They are leading a multistate effort to bring up to $10
million in federal funding to the region to study and,
perhaps, begin testing the technique.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy expanded
funding to inspire state agencies, industries and
universities to research and test the technique - known
as carbon sequestration - on an unprecedented scale. The
government wants to create four to 10 regional
partnerships to study whether it is possible to capture
emissions from coal-fired power plants and unload them
into deep saline formations below 35 states, including
Illinois. Theoretically, the briny aquifers - below those
used for drinking water - could hold all the carbon
dioxide from coal burning power plants for the next 100
years, according to Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham.
Others say storage could last for hundreds of thousands
of years. The technology exists, and though prohibitively
expensive, the costs should decrease over the next decade
with more research, experts say.
Environmental groups call storage "one viable option," as
long as the captured carbon would not be dumped into the
ocean, where it has unknown effects on marine life.
Others believe carbon storage could not only boost the
domestic coal industry, but also could help the world
gradually transition from fossil fuels to renewable
fuels. Still, by most accounts, it would at least double
the cost of energy, and there is little incentive for
power plants to install expensive capture technology.
Questions remain over the possible health hazards if the
carbon escaped: In a bizarre catastrophe, Cameroon's Lake
Nyos emitted a cloud of carbon dioxide in 1986,
asphyxiating about 1,700 villagers. And environmental
groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists and the
Natural Resources Defense Council, though supportive,
warn against developing the technology at the expense of
other solutions.
"It's promising, but there's more that needs to be done
to make sure (carbon dioxide) stays where you put it,"
said David G. Hawkins, director of the NRDC's Climate
Center. "It fits very well with an issue before Congress:
whether to start regulating carbon dioxide from coal-
fired power plants." In some regions of the country,
depleted oil and natural gas reservoirs or coal deposits
could be used to hold carbon dioxide. For the last two
decades, carbon dioxide has been injected into mature oil
fields in west Texas to produce additional oil, a process
known as enhanced oil recovery. Coal seams, meanwhile,
are more experimental and may absorb carbon dioxide and
release methane as a recoverable product to increase
natural gas supplies. Both methods have advantages that
could help offset costs.
"If we're successful with sequestration, we could
continue to use coal resources as a major bridge to these
new fuels over a period of decades," said Robert Finley,
director of the Center for Energy and Earth Resources at
the State Geological Survey, who is working with state
geological surveys of Indiana and Kentucky as well as
Argonne National Laboratory, near Lemont, Ill., and
several gas and electric companies. "At the same time, we
could avoid the release of carbon into the atmosphere."
In a report, Finley added, "In fact, with certain
innovative combustion technologies now under study,
emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide also might
be economically sequestered along with a carbon dioxide-
rich flue-gas stream."
Carbon dioxide, produced from burning carbon-containing
fuels, including oil, coal, natural gas and wood, is
largely blamed for trapping heat and causing climate
change. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,
the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has
increased by 33 percent. Scientists are worried about it
doubling by the end of the century, said Howard Herzog,
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has
been studying carbon disposal for more than a decade.
Mounting evidence links that increase to the burning of
fossil fuels. Fossil fuels provide 85 percent of the
world's primary energy, however, and electricity use is
expected to grow by 2 percent annually in the U.S. and by
3 percent internationally over the next two decades,
according to Scott Klara of the National Energy
Technology Laboratory.
"In the last four years, carbon sequestration has really
come into its own," said Ed Rubin, professor of
environmental engineering and science at Carnegie Mellon
University. Carbon dioxide can be captured from a power
plant's flue-gas stream - the volume of gas after coal
has been burned - by scrubbing it with a chemical solvent
that absorbs the carbon dioxide. Once it's regenerated
into a concentrated stream, it can be pressurized until
it becomes a liquid. Then it can be pipelined to a
storage site. The process works best in sandstone
formations with a thick cap rock over them, said Sally
Benson, deputy director of the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, who is developing technology to monitor
carbon once it's underground. "Carbon dioxide has to flow
through pore spaces in the rock, and the rock underground
is like brick, some is even like sand. It takes a lot of
energy to wiggle through pore spaces, so a catastrophic
failure is difficult to imagine."
Still, the prospect of leaks will likely always haunt
sequestration. "Hopefully if it comes out, it will be so
slowly that no one notices," Herzog said. "But you also
have to look at whether it's out in the atmosphere and
causing trouble. You want it down there until we're no
longer worried about climate change. In reality, the bulk
of it can stay down there thousands of years." As part of
the federal program, American Electric Power, one of the
largest power plant operators and polluters in the
nation, is collaborating on a $4.2 million carbon
sequestration project in the Ohio River Valley, which has
the largest concentration of power plants in the nation.
Over the next two years, researchers will conduct seismic
surveys of the massive Mt. Simon Sandstone in West
Virginia, which extends as far west as Illinois and
Wisconsin. The project also involves drilling a 10,000-
foot exploratory well. "If we can't prove this could be a
permanent repository, it will be a hard sell as a policy
option for mitigating greenhouse gas," said Dale
Heydlauff, AEP's senior vice president of government and
environmental affairs.
52) COTTON TESTS GREENHOUSE CREDENTIALS
Cotton World
February 2, 2003
Internet:
http://www.cottonworld.com.au/articles.php3?rc=280
GREENHOUSE gas emissions from cotton production in
Australia will soon be assessed for the first time. The
Australian Cotton CRC and Greenhouse CRC (co-operative
research centre) will hold their first planning meeting
next Thursday, to map out future directions for
greenhouse gas research in cotton. Dr Gary Fitt, CEO of
the Cotton CRC, and Dr Chris Mitchell, CEO of the
Greenhouse CRC, will host the meeting at the Australian
Cotton Research Institute, Narrabri. The cotton industry
hopes to clarify its part in the greenhouse story and
ensure the sustainability of production practices, Dr
Fitt says.
Greenhouse gas emissions remains one of the few areas of
potential impact on the environment that has not been
studied extensively. Preliminary research on nitrous
oxide (an important greenhouse gas), supported by the
Cotton CRC and the CRDC, will form the basis of future
research. This research is led by Dr Peter Grace of the
Greenhouse CRC and Dr Ian Rochester of the Cotton CRC.
The program is a joint venture between the centres,
supported by the Cotton and Grains Research and
Development Corporations, the Australian Greenhouse
Office and government. The Australian Greenhouse Office
is the first government agency dedicated to monitoring
and managing greenhouse gases. Thursday's agenda includes
an outline of current research; identification of
research gaps and opportunities; an overview of desirable
structures, funding and participants, including
opportunities for co-ordination of funding and resources;
and establishment of research priorities. Agriculture is
a relatively minor contributor of greenhouse gas, but it
is the main source of methane and nitrous oxide
emissions. Within agriculture the chief culprits are
animals (mainly cattle, sheep and feedlots), cultivation,
cropping (particularly from fertiliser use), fires and
management practices.
53) POWER STATIONS THREATEN PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE WITH
MERCURY POISONING GLOBAL STUDY OF THIS HAZARDOUS HEAVY
METAL RELEASED
UNEP
February 3, 2003I
ternet:
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=277&
ArticleID=3204
Nairobi, 3 February 2003 - Mercury poisoning of the
planet could be significantly reduced by curbing
pollution from power stations, a new report released by
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests.
The report, compiled by an international team of experts,
says that coal-fired power stations and waste
incinerators now account for around 1,500 tons or 70
percent of new, quantified man-made mercury emissions to
the atmosphere. The lion's share is now coming from
developing countries with emissions from Asia, at 860
tons, the highest. "As combustion of fossil fuels is
increasing in order to meet the growing energy demands of
both developing and developed nations, mercury emissions
can be expected to increase accordingly in the absence of
the deployment of control technologies or the use of
alternative energy sources," says the report.
Artisinal mining of gold and silver, which is happening
in an increasing number of less developed nations, is
another significant source of mercury pollution,
releasing an estimated 400-500 tons of mercury annually
to the air, soils, and waterways. Mercury is used to
extract these precious metals from ores, resulting in
elevated exposures and risks for the miners and their
families, as well as contamination of the local and
regional environment. Once in the atmosphere, this
hazardous heavy metal can travel hundreds and thousands
of miles, contaminating places far away from the world's
sites where the pollution was originally discharged.
Reducing other pollution from power stations may also
reduce the threats from mercury to humans and wildlife in
indirect but equally important ways.
Temperature can also influence releases of mercury from
contaminated sediments and soils into rivers, lakes and
other freshwaters, the report suggests. Here it can
convert to methylmercury, one of it's most poisonous and
hazardous forms, and build up in fish and other aquatic
life forms with potentially harmful impacts on adults and
infants. Numerous studies have linked brain damage in
babies to mercury poisoning of their mothers as a result
of eating contaminated fish. Fish is still a beneficial
food, and low to moderate consumption is considered safe
and a healthy dietary practice. However, people who eat
higher amounts of contaminated fish or marine mammals
such as seals, may be at risk of mercury poisoning. Most
people are primarily exposed to methylmercury through
eating contaminated fish. However, additional mercury
exposures can occur through dental amalgams and certain
occupational activities. Also, personal use of skin
lightening creams and soaps, mercury use for religious,
cultural and ritualistic purposes, use in some
traditional medicines, use of vaccines and some other
pharmaceuticals containing mercury preservatives (such as
Thimerosal/Thiomersal) and mercury in the home and
working environment can contribute to elevated exposures.
A study of women in the United States, also cited in the
new report, has found that about 1 in 12, or just under
five million have mercury levels in their bodies above
the level considered safe by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency. Just three years ago,
the United States Research Council estimated that about
60,000 babies born each year in the U.S. could be at risk
of brain damage with possible impacts ranging from
learning difficulties to impaired nervous systems.
However, based on more recent exposure data published by
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some
scientists think the number of at risk babies could be as
high as 300,000. Globally the number could run into the
millions.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director, said: "Mercury
is a substance that can be transported in the atmosphere
and in the oceans around the globe, travelling hundreds
and thousands of miles from where it is emitted. It has
long been recognised as a health hazardous substance".
For example the Mad Hatter, of Alice in Wonderland fame,
was so called because hatters used mercury to strengthen
hats and were once exposed to high levels of mercury
vapours. "This new report, requested from UNEP by
governments two years ago, shows that the global
environmental threat to humans and wildlife has not
receded despite reductions in mercury discharges,
particularly in developed countries. Indeed it shows that
the problems remain and appear, in some situations to be
worsening as demand for energy, the largest source of
human-made mercury emissions, climbs," he said. "There
are many compelling scientific, environmental and health
arguments for curbing pollution linked with energy
production. The mercury report gives us another
compelling reason to reduce society's dependence on
carbon intensive energy supplies," added Mr Toepfer.
Acid rain, again often the result of power station
pollution, may be aggravating the problem. High levels
of acidity in rivers, lakes and streams, also appears to
trigger releases of mercury from soils and sediments and
its conversion into methylmercury. The findings may
explain why so many fish in parts of the world where acid
rain has been an issue are contaminated. For example in
southern and central Finland, an estimated 85 per cent of
pike weighing a kilo or more, have methylmercury
concentrations that exceed international health limits.
Other important sources of mercury releases include
cement production, chlor-alkali production, crematories,
manufacture of electrical switches, thermometers,
fluorescent lamps, dental amalgams and rubbish tips
containing wastes such as old batteries and other
mercury-containing products. Slash and burn agriculture
and the clearing of forests may be increasing releases of
mercury to rivers. Meanwhile, mercury contamination in
parts of Europe may be affecting the tiny organisms that
regulate the fertility of soils, says the study. This may
also be having an indirect effect on climate change as
soil microorganisms play a key role in the storage of
carbon from the atmosphere.
These are some of the findings to emerge from the global
study of mercury carried out by experts for UNEP. The
report is being presented to environment ministers from
across the world who are attending UNEP's Governing
Council, and will form the basis for political decisions
that will set the course for global action on mercury for
years to come. The Council is meeting at the
organization's headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, from 3 to
7 February 2003. The findings also come in advance of
World Water Day, which happens on 22 March and is being
organized by UNEP. It will be celebrated at the World
Water Forum taking place in Kyoto, Japan. Here the
findings will have special significance. Several thousand
people were made ill or died in Japan in the 1950 and 60s
as a result of eating seafood heavily contaminated by
mercury in Minamata Bay.
The experts who have compiled the report are asking
governments attending the GC to consider a list of
options for addressing the dangers of mercury. These
include reducing risks by reducing or eliminating the
production, use and release of mercury; substituting
other non-mercury based products and processes; launching
talks for a legally-binding treaty; establishing a non-
binding global programme of action; and strengthening
cooperation amongst governments on information-sharing,
risk communication, assessment and related activities.
They also recommend around a dozen "immediate actions"
including public awareness programmes targeted at
sensitive populations such as pregnant women; waste
disposal facilities for the safe destruction of obsolete,
mercury-containing pesticides and pollution control
technologies for power stations
54) WEST FLAYED FOR BIASED ECO POLICIES
Gulf News
February 2, 2003
Internet:
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=76201
Arab Energy and Environment Ministers, in a joint
declaration adopted here yesterday, lambasted the
industrialised world for enforcing limitations on oil
usage and production on the pretext of environmental
protection. The voice was raised in the joint 'Abu Dhabi
Declaration on Environment and Energy', which was adopted
on the sidelines of the Environment and Energy 2003
Conference and Exhibition. The twin event is being
organised by General Exhibitions Corporation (GEC) and
Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Authority
(ERWDA).
The declaration was adopted at a meeting of the ministers
yesterday . The meeting was opened by Obeid bin Saif Al
Nasiri, the UAE Minister of Petroleum and Mineral
Resources, who said the meeting brought together the Arab
ministers in charge of energy and environmental affairs
for the first time to discuss two major elements of life,
energy and environment. The minister said: "We are here
to try and formulate a common Arab position towards two
elements of modern life, namely environment and energy,
and this move will underline the Arab contribution
towards the global endeavours." Saying the Arab countries
are the leading oil and gas producers, Al Nasiri called
for finding balanced policies which preserve "our rights
in achieving sustainable development without damaging the
environment." He also thanked the Arab ministers for
adopting the Abu Dhabi Declaration on Environment and
Energy which, he said, will soon be implemented by the
member countries.
The declaration, which was approved by the Arab
ministers, observed that trends to enforce biased
limitations on oil usage on the pretext of environmental
protection, can have a negative effect upon revenues
arising from oil exports by the producing countries and,
therefore, affect adversely local and related regional
development opportunities. Discussing various issues
pertaining to the environment, the declaration called
upon the industrialised countries to pay their
contribution to achieve global sustainable development.
The joint declaration of the ministers also criticised
the industrialised world for its biased policies towards
oil producing countries, particularly the Arab states.
The ministers also rejected the industrialised world's
claims that climate change and its negative results are
merely caused by consumption of hydrocarbons. The
declaration said: "There is still scientific uncertainty
related to the phenomenon of climate change and its
results. There is no scientific confirmation that this
phenomenon is primarily a result of emissions resulting
from the consumption of hydrocarbons." It said that such
unfounded allegations and doubts will make the oil and
gas sector a victim, and may result in a recession in
world demand, thus harming the interests of the
producers. The ministers also called upon the
industrialised countries to fulfil their obligations
towards developing countries to support and facilitate
transfer of environmentally safe and sound technology for
energy production in line with international treaties.
The declaration also called upon the industrialised
countries to live up to their commitments such as the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto
Protocol, which they signed in the various environmental
agreements and treaties. They also asked them to
compensate the Arab countries whose economies are mainly
based on the production and sale of oil and gas, for all
the economic and social damages those countries may
suffer at their hands. The declaration, which reiterated
that the energy sector is facing a real challenge in
achieving sustainable development at the Arab level,
urged for the integration of Arab energy markets and for
intensified investment in this area. It urged the
developed countries to adopt policies leading to
reduction of differences in energy markets, in particular
policies, to avoid any discriminatory treatment by
consumer countries on oil and gas, through the imposition
of taxation or the introduction of any unfair support for
other sources and types of energy.They said this would
lead to a reduction in demand for oil and gas and harm
the revenues of producing countries and their
development.
The industrial countries were also urged to restructure
their tax systems to reflect the carbon content of the
fossil energy sources, and the damages resulting from
atomic energy, and abolishing all aspects of subsidies
provided to coal and atomic energy. It expressed great
concern over the expansion of nuclear programmes of some
countries in the region, which are refusing to let in the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect
their military and peaceful nuclear and hydropower
generation programmes. "These activities, resulting from
the use of radioactive material, are harmful for the
region's population, the wildlife and the marine life due
to its leakage to groundwater. Other possible trans-
border effects might affect the coming generations, with
negative impact on the use of atomic energy for power
generation."
55) STUDY: WARMING WORSENED DROUGHT
USA Today
January 31, 2003
Internet:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=676&ncid
=716&e=19&u=/usatoday/20030131/ts_usatoday/4828112
Global warming probably made the recent drought in the
USA worse than it otherwise would have been, say the
authors of a study published today in the journal
Science. It also could increase the risk for future
severe droughts. The study is the latest in a number of
reports linking severe weather problems -- drought,
monsoons and melting polar ice -- to global warming, the
gradual heating of Earth's atmosphere by the burning of
fossil fuels. Federal climate scientists Martin Hoerling
and Arun Kumar wrote the study. The report comes as the
White House is due next week to unveil budget plans for
next year on global warming research. Thursday, the
administration is expected to unveil a list of voluntary
pledges from American industries to cut the emission of
gases said to cause the phenomenon.
President Bush has called for an 18% drop in such
pollution by 2012 as an alternative to the stricter
limits of the Kyoto Protocol, the international climate
treaty that the administration rejected in 2001. Global
warming, although accepted by many, provokes controversy
among government, science and industry about what effect
it has on the planet. The study compared drought in the
USA, southern Europe and southwest Asia from 1998 through
2002 with unprecedented warming of seawater in the
western Pacific and Indian oceans. An existing ''warm
pool'' in those oceans grew warmer during that period.
The study attributes that rise to global warming.
The warming, an increase of 2 degrees Fahrenheit,
combined with the drying effects of a La NiÃ±a weather
pattern in the eastern Pacific during the same time,
Hoerling said. The combination shifted tropical rainfall
and caused the jet stream to move north of its usual
location, the study said. This meant many major winter
storms missed most of North America. As a result, many
parts of the country grew drier, including much of the
West, parts of the South and the Eastern Seaboard. Some
areas received as little as 50% of normal rainfall.
''Absent this warm-pool warming, the likelihood is that
the drought would not have been as severe and
prolonged,'' says Hoerling, a meteorologist in the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate
Diagnostics Center in Boulder, Colo. Kumar is with NOAA's
Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md.
Drought, which persists in several Western states, could
have occurred without global warming or La NiÃ±a, a
climate phenomenon in which cooler eastern Pacific waters
produces drier conditions. But it would not have been as
bad or as persistent, Hoerling says. The study ''should
make a number of people sit up and take note,'' says
Kevin Trenberth, the head of climate analysis for the
National Center for Atmospheric Research.
56) CLIMATE PARTNERSHIP WITH ROMANIA MOOTED
The Copenhagen Post
January 31, 2003
Internet: http://cphpost.periskop.dk/default.asp?id=27499
Denmark formalized a climate agreement with Romania under
the Joint Implementation projects of the Kyoto Protocol
yesterday. Denmark has entered a framework agreement with
Romania on joint future climate projects. The agreement
will transfer dearly needed new technology to Romania to
conserve energy and limit air pollution. In return,
Denmark can write off the carbon dioxide reduction on its
national climate report.
The so-called Joint Implementation projects under the
Kyoto Protocol open the possibility for industrialized
countries to launch energy projects in other countries-
notably in Eastern Europe- where cutbacks in CO2
emissions from disabled power plants or disused factories
can be implemented more cheaply. Environment Minister
Hans Christian Schmidt, who signed yesterday's agreement
with Romanian Ambassador Vlad-Andrei Moga, predicts that
the partnership will help Denmark reach its ambitious
climate objectives under the Kyoto Protocol. The last
phase of an initial project in Romania is currently under
negotiation. Denmark has also entered a general climate
partnership with Slovakia, and is in talks for similar
national programmes with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Estonia
and Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, Danish power plants and environmental
organizations are anxiously awaiting the government's
promised climate strategy, which has been repeatedly
postponed. According to daily newspaper Politiken, the
nation's taxpayers will foot a hefty bill if Denmark has
any realistic chance of reducing its carbon dioxide
emissions by 21 percent between 2008 and 2012.
57) AIR POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE – TACKLING BOTH
PROBLEMS IN TANDEM
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
January 31, 2003
Internet: http://www.unece.org/env/emep/pr03_env02e_h.pdf
Scientists and policy makers should no longer treat air
pollution and climate change as distinct problems,
because the two are very closely related. The recent
Workshop on Linkages and Synergies of Regional and Global
Emission Control, organized under the UNECE Convention on
Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution by the
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
(IIASA), looked at the numerous links between these two
policy areas. It concluded that these links are so
important that they merit close cooperation.
Air pollution affects the regional and global climate
both directly and indirectly. Ozone in the lower layers
of the atmosphere contributes to global warming even more
than some greenhouse gases included in the Kyoto
Protocol, and particulate matter in the atmosphere also
has important climate impacts. However, although black
carbon, or soot particles, has a warming effect, other
particles, for instance sulphates and nitrates, may cool
the climate. The current high levels of sulphates and
nitrates mask the effects of climate change to some
degree. Through cuts in sulphur and nitrogen emissions
necessary to protect human health and the environment the
climate impacts of the greenhouse gases may actually show
more quickly. On the other hand, measures to cut black
carbon emissions, for instance from diesel combustion,
will have double benefits, protecting both human health
locally and also the climate regionally and worldwide.
Methane has a direct negative impact on climate (it is
one of the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gases) and it
contributes to ground-level ozone levels. Methane
emissions (mainly from agriculture, energy and waste
management) have grown very rapidly since pre-industrial
times. Cutting these emissions will reduce health- and
ecosystem-damaging ozone levels and reduce the extent of
climate change. While indications of the climate
impacts of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations can
already be seen in the rise of mean temperatures and the
increase in the numbers of extreme climate events (floods
and droughts), most impacts are likely to happen over the
next 50-100 years. Some gases, like carbon dioxide, stay
in the atmosphere for a very long time, so measures to
reduce emissions only start to show an effect after a few
decades. In contrast, ozone, black carbon and methane can
be controlled to show effects much sooner (10-20 years).
Cutting these pollutants could help reduce some climate
impacts while waiting for longer-term measures to pay
off.
Besides such links between atmospheric effects, there is
also a strong link between the sources of emissions.
Energy production and transport are responsible for most
CO2 emissions and much of the air pollution. Cutting
energy consumption and car use will therefore have double
benefits. Synergies can also be found in agriculture:
cutting ammonia emissions could lead to an increase of
some greenhouse gas emissions, but the same reduction
levels can also be achieved by an integrated strategy
that will even cut some of the greenhouse gases. The
UNECE Convention’s Centre for Integrated Assessment
Modelling, run by IIASA, estimates that the cost of
reaching the 2010 air pollution objectives in the
Convention’s Gothenburg Protocol could be reduced by at
least €5 billion if European countries cut CO2 emissions
in line with the Kyoto Protocol (without CO2 trading).
Similar results have been found for China or Mexico.
While closely related, air pollution and climate change
have mostly been treated as separate problems. At the
international level, efforts under the UNECE Convention
on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution have helped cut
air pollution levels in Europe. Sulphur emissions are 60%
lower than in 1980, nitrogen oxides are down by 25%
compared to 1990 and other pollutants are also starting
to decline. At the global scale the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change has brought
together more than 180 countries to agree on measures to
combat climate change. More needs to be done, both to
bring air pollution down to safe levels and to cut
greenhouse gas emissions to halt climate change.
Taking certain climate change measures will yield
additional benefits through improved local and regional
air quality. Certain air pollution abatement measures
will also help protect the regional and global climate.
Much, though not all, is known about such links, but
systematic studies are lacking. The UNECE Convention’s
Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of
the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe
(EMEP) has begun to integrate these links into its
assessment so that measures to further cut air pollution
will lead to win-win situations. It is also seeking
cooperation with scientists of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change to move this work forward
58) U.S. TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL FUSION RESEARCH PROJECT
Reuters
January 30, 2003
Internet:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/2003013
0/sc_nm/bush_fusion_dc_1
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will join an
international research project aimed at harnessing the
power of fusion and turning it into a clean and safe
source for energy, President Bush said on Thursday. ITER,
the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, is
a fusion research project that is already a joint
operation of Britain, other European Union nations,
Russia, China, Japan and Canada. Bush said he would like
to see fusion energy turned into a source for clean,
safe, renewable and commercially available energy by the
middle of the century.
"Commercialization of fusion has the potential to
dramatically improve America's energy security while
significantly reducing air pollution and emissions of
greenhouse gases," Bush said. Bush drew fire from
Europeans for withdrawing the United States from the
Kyoto treaty aimed at taking steps to reduce greenhouse
emissions blamed for global warming. At home,
environmentalists have questioned his commitment to the
environment because he wants to open Alaska's Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Fusion is the energy source that powers the sun. It
occurs in the sun when the intense heat and pressure
within the sun's core cause light atoms to collide and
fuse together. This creates heavier atoms and releases
energy. But fusion energy has been hard to make on a
commercial scale. ITER plans to build a demonstration
fusion power plant. Bush directed Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham to represent the United States at ITER
meetings in February in St. Petersburg, Russia.
59) BP SHOWCASES EMISSION REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY IN ABU
DHABI
Mena Report
January 30, 2003
Internet:
http://www.menareport.com/story/TheNews.php3?action=story
&sid=240811&lang=e&dir=mena
Oil major BP will be showcasing for the first time in Abu
Dhabi its methodology that helped reduce the company’s
greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent, eight years ahead
of schedule, at the same time as saving the company $600
million. The company’s technologically advanced
applications and research in capturing and treating harmful
emissions will be the focus of its attendance at
the Environment and Energy (E&E) 2003 exhibition at the
Abu Dhabi International Exhibition Center from February
2-5.
In 1998, shortly after the Kyoto accords, BP set itself
the ambitious target of reducing its emissions of
greenhouse gases by 10 percent by the year 2010, relative
to a 1990 base line. By the spring of 2002 its emissions
of carbon dioxide had been cut to 80 million tons, 10
million tons below the level in 1990 and 14 million tons
below the level they had reached by 1998.
At BP’s chemicals plant in Korea the project resulted in
savings of $4.5 million a year and cut carbon dioxide
emission by 49,000 tons. At its Texas City refinery it
saved five million dollars and 300,000 tons of emissions.
At its operation in Sharjah, BP Sharjah Oil Company
surpassed its target by achieving a reduction of 30
percent in greenhouse gases, declining 971,000 tons in
1998 to 640,000 tons by the end of 2002. In Abu Dhabi,
ADCO reduced its methane emissions by 85 percent by
replacing pumps that were driven by methane gas with
solar powered electric motors. — (menareport.com).
60) ICE CAP 'SENSITIVE' TO GREENHOUSE GAS
Stuff
January 29, 2003
Internet:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2224232a7693,00.html
"Ominous" new research on global warming has indicated
that even the Kyoto Protocol will not go far enough to
avoid a climate disaster. New Zealand and most other
nations have signed the protocol, a 1997 scheme designed
to limit greenhouse gases, but the United States and
Australia have refused. The two countries produce a major
share of the world's greenhouse gases between them but
claim the protocol is unnecessarily harsh on
industrialised countries.
Their opposition will be challenged by the latest
research from Antarctica that shows the most serious
greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, played a far bigger role
in the origin of the Antarctic icecap than previously
thought. Victoria University's Professor Peter Barrett,
speaking from Scott Base, said the latest study published
in a prestigious science journal, Nature, confirms the
sensitivity of the icecap, home to 90 per cent of the
globe's fresh water, to rising greenhouse gas emissions.
If emissions are not checked, by the end of this century
they will probably lead to a climate like the Earth's
before the icecap was formed, he said. "This new
research on the past Antarctic climate has an ominous
warning for the future, indicating that more extreme
measures than currently proposed under the Kyoto Protocol
will be needed to forestall climate disaster in the
decades ahead," he said. "It is clear that land-surface
and ocean temperatures are rising in response to human-
induced emissions of greenhouse gases – and remarkably
fast on a geological timescale. "The effects of this
will be difficult to predict, but they will plainly be
profound. (This new research) brings new understanding of
the effects of carbon dioxide emissions on climate, and
adds force to the arguments for reducing greenhouse-gas
emissions beyond those agreed in the Kyoto Protocol. It
indicates that world leaders will have to go beyond the
Kyoto Protocol to avoid a climate disaster."
The campaign to get the United States to change its
attitude to the Kyoto Protocol has been boosted by a
congressional inspection tour of the American bases in
Antarctica this month. The head of the powerful US
science committee, Republican Congressman Sherwood
Boehlert, said they had seen first-hand the research
being done in Antarctica on controversial issues such as
global warming. He described it as vital. "Congress is
prone to say ad nauseam that we want to operate on
science-based fact rather than speculation and theory,
but sometimes when the science leads us to politically
inconvenient conclusions then there's a tendency on the
part of some to go in another direction," he said. "But
it's hard to argue with a fact that's been methodically
and meticulously developed over years of in-depth study."
The research that prompted the warning that global
warming is worse than previously thought is based on
computer modelling of the Earth's climate during the
formation of the first Antarctic ice sheet 34 million
years ago. At the time, the Earth's climate was cooling –
the reverse of the situation now, where there has been a
dramatic onset of global warming since the advent of
widespread industrialisation. The nub of the new US-
based research from Antarctica is that carbon dioxide had
a much bigger role to play in temperatures over the
southern continent. Previously it was thought changing
ocean currents, caused by the drifting continents, were
primarily responsible for the cooling of the region.
Professor Barrett said it was worrying that the research
emphasis has shifted away from understanding climate
behaviour and towards mitigating the effects of
greenhouse emissions. Both areas needed further research
funding, "along with an international commitment to an
effective solution, if we are to survive the worst
consequences of this grandest of all human experiments".
Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said
New Zealand had established a world-beating reputation
for climate research projects on the Ice.
61) SHRINKING ARCTIC ICE TO OPEN SHIPPING SHORT-CUTS
Reuters
January 29, 2003
Internet:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/2003012
9/sc_nm/environment_arctic_dc_2
KIRKENES, Norway (Reuters) - The shrinking Arctic ice cap
may open a fabled passage for ships between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans within a decade, transforming an icy
graveyard into a short-cut trade route. Ship owners may
be among the few to benefit from global warming in the
extreme North, where the giant thaw is threatening
traditional habitats for indigenous peoples and wildlife
ranging from polar bears to caribou.
U.N. studies project that the Arctic may be free of ice
in summertime by 2080. The polar passage, clogged by ice
throughout seafaring history, may come to challenge the
Panama and Suez canals. "In the next 10 years I believe
we will solve the problems of round-the-year goods
transport through the Northern Sea route," said Alexander
Medvedev, general director of Russia's Murmansk Shipping
Company. "You can save at least 10-15 days on the voyage
from Japan to Europe, especially in summertime," he told
Reuters during a visit to Kirkenes on the Arctic tip of
Norway.
The company now runs two or three ice-breaker-led voyages
a year from Europe to Japan and back, hugging the Russian
coast, and reckons the route can be opened year-round if
Moscow makes big new investments. On the other side of
the Arctic, the Northwest Passage past Alaska and through
a maze of islands off Canada is likely to take longer to
be ice-free because it is further north. It also passes
through straits that get blocked more easily by ice.
"For the Northwest Passage it will take another 20 years
after conditions for the Northern Sea route are
favorable," said Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean
physics at Cambridge University in England. "I'm sure
it's going to happen -- the ice is retreating."
INSURERS WARY
Yet insurance companies are likely to stay wary of both
polar routes. High premiums plus a need for ice-resistant
hulls for ships and ice-breaker escorts may well wipe out
the advantages of lower costs due to the shorter
distance. Mariners searched in vain for centuries for a
short-cut from Europe to the Far East. The search for
passages cost the lives of explorers including Dutchman
Wilhelm Barents and Englishman Henry Hudson -- after whom
the Barents Sea and Hudson Bay are named. Barents' ship
ran aground in 1596 and Hudson died after a 1611 mutiny.
Other explorers were victims of cold or scurvy before a
Finnish-Swedish expedition navigated the Northern Sea
route in 1878. The Norwegian Roald Amundsen was first to
get through the Northwest Passage in 1906. Even as the
ice shrinks, it may take billions of dollars to open sea
routes. Ports in northern Russia have deteriorated since
the end of the Cold War when nuclear powered ice-breakers
led warships between the Atlantic and Pacific. "The
obstacles are more economic and political. You have to
have a lot of infrastructure: navigational aids search
and rescue teams, the ability to clean up pollution,"
Wadhams said.
And environmentalists want safeguards to protect
indigenous peoples in some of the world's largest
wildernesses and to prevent a get-rich-quick rush for
resources ranging from oil and gas to timber and
minerals. "Melting of the ice will make access far
easier to northern Siberia and other wildernesses," said
Svein Tveitdal, managing director of the U.N. Environment
Program's polar center. "There has to be a strategy for
sustainable development of the Arctic. It mustn't become
a sort of new Africa, where colonialists exploited the
resources." About 4 million people live around the
Arctic.
U.N. studies show that the Arctic ice has shrunk by about
3 percent a decade since the 1970s and that air
temperatures have risen by about 5 degrees Celsius (about
8 degrees Fahrenheit) in the past century. The
exploration of oil and gas fields will increase the risk
of pollution such as the Exxon Valdez tanker spill off
Alaska in 1989. Norway plans to open its first gas field
in the Barents Sea in 2006. The polar regions are most
vulnerable to global warming, caused by burning fossil
fuels like oil. Scientists say the emissions are
blanketing the planet and pushing up temperatures. In
the Arctic, melting ice and snow exposes darker soil and
rocks that trap heat. The sun's heat bounces back into
space more readily at the equator than near the poles,
where low slanting rays have to pass through thicker
layers of atmosphere.
ICE RECEDES
New polar routes will save about 4,000 nautical miles on
some routes from Europe to the Far East compared to
southerly routes through Panama or Suez. Shipments could
include cargoes like grains, frozen fish, oil and gas or
cars. And a route north of Canada, for instance, might
save 6,000 to 8,000 nautical miles for a super tanker
from Venezuela to Japan. Vessels too big to pass through
the Panama Canal have to go around all of South America.
Japan has also expressed interest in transporting nuclear
waste to Europe through the Arctic, a plan denounced by
environmentalists who say it could get trapped in ice.
Rob Huebert, associate director for the Center for
Military and Strategic Studies at the University of
Calgary in Canada, said one odd spin-off of global
warming is that some regions are getting colder,
complicating any shipping plans. "In some areas the ice
is getting thicker as it breaks up elsewhere," he said.
Willy Oestreng, a Norwegian professor of international
affairs who led a global study of the Northern Sea route
in the 1990s, said Russia was ahead of Canada because of
factors including more ports, albeit dilapidated, and
ice-breakers. "The differences are striking. The Northern
Sea route is more developed," he said. He noted that
nickel had been shipped from northwest Russia year-round
since the 1970s.
62) CHEAP COAL A HURDLE TO CHINA NATGAS GROWTH-EXPERT
Reuters
January 28, 2003
Internet:
http://www.forbes.com/markets/commodities/newswire/2003/0
1/28/rtr861633.html
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Development of natural gas
in China could improve the environment and the economy
but faces a hurdle from the nation's heaping supplies of
cheap coal, an expert on Chinese energy said. To leap the
hurdle, China must define a national natural gas policy
that reforms gas prices, defines gas quality standards,
and provides incentives for development and construction
of infrastructure, said Xavier Chen, the China Program
Director at the Paris-based International Energy Agency
at a conference in New York.
Natural gas provides China with just 3 percent of its
energy, compared with oil at 25 percent. Coal provides
nearly 70 percent. "There is strong competition from
coal, it is cheap and abundant, and China has a lack of
gas technology," said Chen. There are also natural gas
infrastructure problems, from transporting gas to burning
it for power. "China cannot manufacture small gas
turbines," Chen said. China's leadership has set a goal
for natural gas growth to 6 percent of total energy
supply by 2010. Chinese oil major PetroChina has set a
goal of 12 percent by 202O.
China has only 1 percent of global proven natural gas
reserves, mostly located in the central and western parts
of the country, away from the high demand eastern parts.
Still, the reserves could provide China with its natural
gas needs for the next 50 years, said Chen. China broke
ground last summer on the West-East gas pipeline which is
expected to span 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from the Tarim
basin to Shanghai. Exxon Mobil Corp, Royal Dutch Shell,
and Russia's Gazprom have also invested in the line which
is expected to run gas by 2005.
Some analysts believe China could eventually connect the
West-East pipeline to tap into Russian gas reserves. The
price of heavy coal dependence in China could prod China
to faster natural gas development, said Chen. Coal
burning in China, the second largest economy in the
world, combined with the explosive growth of car demand
of about three million vehicles per year, makes the
nation a leading emitter of pollutants. China is the
second largest emitter of amount of global CO2, but is
the world's largest emitter of both soot and sulphur
dioxide (SO2), a cause of acid rain, which damages 40
percent of Chinese land, according to IEA.
A 1998 World Health Organization report said seven of the
10 most polluted cities in the world. Water and air
pollution cost China $24 billion in 1995, or about 3.5
percent of Chinese gross domestic product in that year,
according to the World Bank. China last September
ratified the Kyoto protocol meant to rein in emissions of
greenhouse gases blamed for warming the planet. But as a
developing nation it is not bound by any targets for
restraining carbon dioxide emissions. "Kyoto is just one
step, there will be certainly new commitments coming,"
said Chen, "without Chinese participation it will be hard
to arrest the global warming process." China has already
banned the use of coal in certain areas where SO2
emissions and acid rain is a problem.
63) AIR QUALITY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND PROTECTION OF THE
OZONE LAYER: COMMISSION PURSUES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST SIX
MEMBER STATES
EU
January 27, 2003
Internet:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action
.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/03/124|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
The European Commission has taken legal action to improve
air quality in Europe, address climate change and protect
the ozone layer by pursuing infringement proceedings
against Greece, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Finland and
Germany. The Commission is concerned that these Member
States have not correctly implemented certain EU laws
governing emissions to the air. Greece is to be referred
to the European Court of Justice for failing to apply
correctly an EU law on combating air pollution from
industrial plants to a power station at Linoperamata in
Crete. Ireland is to be referred to the Court for failing
to provide monitoring data on emissions of carbon dioxide
from cars. Austria is to be referred to the Court for
failing to bring its national legislation on large
combustion plants into line with the Large Combustion
Plants Directive. Ireland and Germany are also to receive
Reasoned Opinions (final written warnings) for failing to
fulfil reporting requirements on the use of ozone-
depleting substances, which is required by the Ozone
Regulation. Greece, Belgium and Finland are to receive
Reasoned Opinions for failing to communicate complete
transposition measures for amendments to the Directive on
internal combustion engines for non-road mobile machinery
(in Finland this relates only to the Province of Åland).
Reasoned Opinions represent the second stage of
infringement proceedings under Article 226 of the EC
Treaty. In the absence of a satisfactory response within
two months, the Commission may decide to refer these
cases to the Court of Justice. Commenting on the
decisions, Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström
said: "Air pollution is a serious local, regional,
national and global problem. The Commission is committed
to improving the quality of Europe's air, addressing
climate change and safeguarding the ozone layer. If
Member States agree to abide by environmental legislation
they must transpose that legislation into their national
legislation and adapt their governmental practices
accordingly."
EU laws on Air Quality, Climate Change and Ozone Layer
EU legislation in this area seeks to achieve the
following goals:
* to combat air pollution from industrial plants;
* to require the setting up of schemes to monitor average
specific emissions of carbon dioxide from new passenger
cars;
* to limit air pollutant emissions from large combustion
plants;
* to adapt the restrictions on the emission of gaseous
and particulate pollutants from internal combustion
engines in non-road mobile machinery;
* to require the submission of reports containing
information on the measures taken to handle substances
that damage the ozone layer.
Inadequate implementation means that citizens do not get
the guarantees of higher protection that these EU laws
promise or contribute to internationally. Consequently,
citizens run a greater risk of suffering health problems
associated with poor air quality.
COMBATING AIR POLLUTION FROM INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
In 1984, the EU adopted a Directive on air pollution from
industrial plants(1). The Directive aims to curb
industrial air pollution by establishing a system of
prior authorisation and by upgrading existing plants
according to the principle of the "best available
technology not entailing excessive cost "(BATNEEC). The
decision to refer Greece to the Court of Justice follows
the investigation of a complaint into a power station at
Linoperamata, Crete. For 15 years, Greece has failed to
take adequate measures to gradually adapt the plant
according to the principles of BATNEEC. It has also
failed to make the plant less environmentally damaging.
As a result, its polluting emissions are higher than they
otherwise might be.
LARGE COMBUSTION PLANTS
The Large Combustion Plants Directive(2) aims to reduce
air pollution from larger power plants by, among other
things, setting up pollution reduction programmes and by
enforcing stricter emission limits. Austrian legislation
is inadequate in this respect. It includes, for example,
exemptions to the definition of a "multi-firing unit" for
conventional fuels, which were not provided for in the
Directive. In addition the important distinction between
"new plant" and "existing plant" has not been drawn, as
required by the Directive. Finally, the definition of
emission limit values with regard to sulphur dioxide,
oxides of nitrogen and dust is too vague, and emission
values for distillation residues have not been fixed.
EMISSIONS FROM NON-ROAD MOBILE MACHINERY
The Directive governing emissions of gaseous and
particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines
in non-road mobile machinery should have been implemented
by 30 June 2002.(3) It adapts emissions restrictions to
take account of the technical progress that has been
made. Greece, Belgium and Finland (the Province of Åland)
have not yet informed the Commission of the transposition
measures that they have implemented.
MONITORING AVERAGE CO2 EMISSIONS FROM NEW PASSENGER CARS
In 2000, the EU agreed a scheme for monitoring CO2
emissions from new passenger cars(4). This requires
Member States to send monitoring information to the
Commission every year as part of the Community strategy
to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars,thereby
combatting climate change. The deadline for producing the
information report was 1 July 2001. While other Member
States have provided monitoring data, Ireland has not,
hence the decision to refer it to the Court of Justice.
PROTECTING THE OZONE LAYER
The Regulation on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer(5) aims to curb and eventually eliminate the use of
substances that deplete stratospheric ozone, which is the
global shield that protects the earth from harmful solar
rays. The Regulation requires Member States to supply
information on measures taken to promote the recovery,
recycling, reclamation and destruction of controlled
substances such as CFCs, HCFCs, halons and methyl
bromide. Member States must also provide data on what has
been done to make organisations and users responsible for
carrying out these activities. They must show what steps
have been taken to prevent leakages of controlled
substances, and there are other specific requirements to
minimise methyl bromide leakages. In addition, the
Regulation obliges Member States to respect other
reporting requirements, including providing information
on annual leak checks (for equipment containing more than
3 kg of ozone depleting substances), submitting data on
the minimum qualification requirements for all personnel
involved and communicating details on the quantities of
controlled substances that have been recovered, recycled,
reclaimed or destroyed. Ireland and Germany have yet to
fulfil this reporting requirement, and the Commission
therefore decided to send the two Member States a
Reasoned Opinion.
LEGAL PROCESS
Article 226 of the Treaty gives the Commission powers to
take legal action against a Member State that is not
respecting its obligations. If the Commission considers
that there may be an infringement of Community law that
warrants the opening of an infringement procedure, it
addresses a "Letter of Formal Notice" to the Member State
concerned, requesting it to submit its observations by a
specified date, usually two months.
In the light of the reply or absence of a reply from the
Member State concerned, the Commission may decide to
address a "Reasoned Opinion" (or final written warning)
to the Member State. This clearly and definitively sets
out the reasons why it considers there to have been an
infringement of Community law and calls upon the Member
State to comply within a specified period, normally two
months. If the Member State fails to comply with the
Reasoned Opinion, the Commission may decide to bring the
case before the European Court of Justice. Article 228
of the Treaty gives the Commission power to act against a
Member State that does not comply with a previous
judgement of the European Court of Justice. The article
also allows the Commission to ask the Court to impose a
financial penalty on the Member State concerned.
For current statistics on infringements in general,
please visit the following web-site:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/droit_c
om/index_en.htm#infractions
OPINIONS/EDITORIALS
64) CLIMATE RIGHT FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WEATHER by
Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr.
Los Angeles Times
February 15, 2003
Internet:
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=14&ID=85095&r
=0
Lautenbacher Jr. is U.S. undersecretary of Commerce for
oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
El Nino — the climate event caused by the periodic
warming of tropical Pacific Ocean waters — has had heavy
effects on lives, property and the economy. In 1997-98,
storm losses due to El Nino reached $1.1 billion in
California; the U.S. total was put at $25 billion.
Understanding the natural processes that lead to an El
Nino and other climate events is a central concern to
scientists, policymakers and economists. Knowing more
about how and why these events occur will have far-
reaching implications, leading to improved safety
measures, longer lead times, more efficient energy,
agricultural and transportation practices and a growing
knowledge base to address looming global climate change
issues.
Behind each newscast featuring local, regional and
national weather is a seamless yet complex research
effort. With the five-day forecast commonplace, long-
range climate services are needed. Climate services
extend beyond near-term weather forecasts and provide
less-defined but no less important information on longer-
range weather trends. Though weather is what we’re
experiencing today, climate affects weather patterns over
a season or longer.
There are compelling reasons to better understand these
patterns, and everyone is a stakeholder. The air we
breathe and the sea washing our shores know no
boundaries. Global pollution shows up in Antarctica’s
snow and ice. Africa’s dust and traces of its sandstorms
show up in Florida’s coral reefs. Not knowing how to
effectively mitigate these concerns can have far-reaching
economic, environmental and security consequences. For
these reasons, climate services must become as critical
in this century as weather services were in the last. We
need an international system of climate information that
links every region of the globe. Without the
participation of every nation, we will continue to have
gaps in scientific knowledge and understanding. No matter
how outstanding the technology, climate cannot be
effectively investigated on a piecemeal basis.
More is known about the dark side of the moon than about
the oceans that cover 70 percent of the Earth. The
existing ocean monitoring system offers an exciting array
of technological marvels, including sea-level gauges,
ocean robots and weather balloons. An important addition
to these tools are 5-foot-long yellow ARGO floats that
are being deployed by the United States and its
international partners around the world. These floats,
which ride ocean currents taking temperature and salinity
measurements up to 6,000 feet below the surface, are
helping to fill in missing data on our oceans and offer
glimpses into longer-range global climate trends. But
there are still substantial gaps in coverage. As
scientific eyes and ears in the world’s oceans, these
technologies can, over time, tell us a good deal about
what our future may look like and what steps we can take
to prepare for it.
At the direction of President Bush, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is moving
forward with a plan to broaden and intensify climate
science research efforts and is making headway toward
gaining international support for an expanded global
climate observation system. By monitoring winds out of
the Indian Ocean, for example, then tracking the ocean’s
response to them over the Pacific, the agency was able to
provide an unprecedented six months’ heads-up that
another El Nino was brewing. This demonstrates that we
have the capability to save lives and millions of U.S.
and global dollars through the use of El Nino data. The
forecast, for example, could be used to adjust the
release of water from reservoirs or prepare for possible
mudslides.
We must seriously consider a global observing system to
do for global climate what we have been able to do in
detecting El Nino. With a firm commitment by the United
States and its international partners to implement a
global observing system, we can take the pulse of Mother
Earth and provide benefits to California, the nation and
the world.
65) END OF THE WORLD NIGH - IT'S OFFICIAL by Michael
Meacher
The Guardian
February 14, 2003
Internet:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,895217,00.
html
Michael Meacher is environment minister. This article is
based on a lecture he will deliver today at Newcastle
University
There is a lot wrong with our world. But it is not as bad
as many people think. It is worse. Global warming is
slowly but relentlessly changing the face of the planet.
We are only in the early stages of this process, but
already carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached 375
parts per million, the highest level for at least half a
million years. Temperatures are projected to rise by up
to 5.8 C this century, 10 times the increase of 0.6 C in
the last century, and by 40% more than this in some
northern land surface areas. This means temperatures
could rise by up to 8.1 C in some parts of the world.
Does this matter? The evidence suggests that it does. In
China severe floods used to occur once every 20 years;
now they occur in nine out of every 10. The number of
people affected by floods globally has risen from 7
million in the 1960s to 150 million now. In 1998 two-
thirds of Bangladesh was under water for months,
affecting 30 million people. In the UK, 5 million people
and 185,000 businesses are at risk. Flooding is only the
beginning. The number of people worldwide devastated by
hurricanes or cyclones has increased eightfold to 25
million a year over the past 30 years. The oceans are
steadily warming, and since they currently absorb 50
times more CO2 than is contained in the atmosphere, even
a tiny reduction in CO2 absorption by the sea could cause
global temperatures to rise significantly.
Even more seriously, 10,000 billion tonnes of methane (a
greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2) are stored,
according to the US Geological Survey, on the shallow
floor of the Arctic, in sediments below the seabed. If
the temperature surrounding the methane warms, it becomes
unstable and methane gas is released, causing
temperatures to increase further. Warming oceans also
cause the waters to expand and the sea level to rise. Sea
level is predicted to rise by 3ft over the next century,
leading to huge areas of Bangladesh, Egypt and China
being inundated.
We don't know the limits of nature - how much rain could
fall for how long a period, how much more powerful and
frequent hurricanes could become, for how long droughts
could endure. The ultimate concern is that if runaway
global warming occurred, temperatures could spiral out of
control and make our planet uninhabitable. Five times in
the past 540 million years there have been mass
extinctions, in one case involving the destruction of 96%
of species then living. But while these were the result
of asteroid strikes or intense glaciation, this is the
first time that a species has been at risk of generating
its own demise. James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis
conceives of the planet as an active control system. It
posits the existence of feedbacks at the global level
which, so far, have served to keep the earth's surface
habitable within a tolerable range, despite significant
external changes, including changes in the radiation from
the sun. However, with severe human-induced activity,
that is now beginning to change.
We have almost become our own geophysical cycle. There
are many examples of this trend. On a global scale our
biological carbon productivity is now only outpaced by
the krill in the oceans. Our civil engineering works
shift more soil than all the world's rivers bring to the
seas. Our industrial emissions eclipse the total
emissions from all the world's volcanoes. We are bringing
about species loss on the scale of some of the natural
extinctions of palaeohistory.
We face a transformation of our world and its ecosystems
at an exponential rate, and unprecedentedly brought
about, not by natural forces, but by the activities of
the dominant species. Climate change is only the most
dramatic example. At a time when scientists say the world
should be reducing its CO2 emissions by 60% to stabilise
and then reverse global warming, they are projected to
increase by around 75% on 1990 levels by 2020. The
dinosaurs dominated the earth for 160 million years. We
are in danger of putting our future at risk after a mere
quarter of a million years. The force of the Gaia thesis
has never been more apparent. When an alien infection
invades the body, the body develops a fever in order to
concentrate all its energies to eliminate the alien
organism. In most cases it succeeds, and the body
recovers. But where it does not, the body dies. The
lesson is that if we continue with activities which
destroy our environment and undermine the conditions for
our own survival, we are the virus. Making the change
needed to avoid that fate is perhaps the greatest
challenge we have ever faced.
66) A BACK DOOR TO KYOTO? by H. Sterling Burnett
Washington Post
February 13, 2003
Internet: http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20030213-
75808846.htm
H. Sterling Burnett is senior fellow at National Center
for Policy Analysis
Why do bad ideas linger with such persistence in the
halls of Congress? This question came to mind when Sens.
John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Joseph Lieberman,
Connecticut Democrat, recently introduced legislation to
reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global
warming. President George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto
Protocol for the control of greenhouse gas emissions
arguing that the treaty was "fundamentally flawed," and
not in the United States' interests. It appeared the
Senate agreed with him, since in 1997 it had unanimously
passed a resolution requiring the Clinton administration
to not participate in any global warming agreement that
would either (1) harm the U.S. economy or (2) fail to
require meaningful participation by developing countries.
Kyoto met neither of these conditions.
Perhaps in an effort to solidify the votes of the
environmental community and kick-start their campaigns
for the presidency in 2004, Messrs. Lieberman and McCain
have co-sponsored an anti-air pollution bill that is, in
effect, an attempt to implement a modestly less onerous
version of Kyoto — let's call it "Kyoto lite" — without
Senate ratification. Kyoto lite is similar to a bill Mr.
Lieberman introduced in 2002 that would have lumped
carbon dioxide in with mercury, nitrogen oxide and sulfur
dioxide — air pollutants regulated by the Environmental
Protection Agency — and demand that power plants reduce
the emissions of these gasses via a "cap-and-trade"
mechanism.
However, McCain/Lieberman would go further than the
earlier bill by establishing greenhouse gas reduction
targets for every major sector of the economy — energy,
manufacturing, transportation, etc. — not just power
plants. Cap-and-trade would work by setting a cap on
total emissions, auction allowances to emit carbon
dioxide to energy producers, and then permit them to
trade these allowances between themselves.
Supporters of cap-and-trade approaches to reducing air
pollution argue that emissions trading is a more cost-
effective way of reducing total emissions than either
specifying a particular technological fix or taxing fuels
based upon their relative emissions. They may be right.
But there is no good reason for implementing a bad public
policy, even if it is done in the least costly way.
Whatever the merits of using a cap-and-trade approach for
reducing the emissions of mercury and sulfur dioxide,
their argument is flawed when applied to CO2. Unlike the
others, CO2 is neither a pollutant nor is toxic at any
foreseeable atmospheric levels. Indeed, CO2 is critical
for plant life and thus necessary for life on Earth.
Since CO2 is not a pollutant, the only justification for
forcing radical emission reductions on the economy is to
slow or prevent global warming. But neither unilateral
U.S. emissions reductions, as the McCain/Lieberman bill
would demand, nor the international emissions reductions
required by the Kyoto Protocol, would have any effect on
future global warming.
According to the National Center for Atmospheric
Research, if all of the signatories meet their greenhouse
gas reduction targets, the temperature difference would
be so small it couldn't be measured by ground-based
temperature gauges. Indeed, since as much as 85 percent
of the projected increase in CO2 emissions will come from
developing countries exempted from the Protocol,
including China, India, South Korea and Brazil, even if
developed countries unilaterally stopped all their
greenhouse gas emissions (something no one seriously
proposes), total greenhouse gas concentrations would
continue to rise.
In addition, America is in the midst of a serious
economic slowdown. By forcing industry to cut CO2
emissions — which means reducing energy use — the
McCain/Lieberman bill will only exacerbate our country's
economic woes. In June 2002, the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published a study
analyzing various cap-and-trade proposals. The CBO's
conclusion was clear. "[T]he economic impacts of cap-and-
trade programs would be similar to those of a carbon tax:
Both would raise the cost of using carbon-based fossil
fuels, lead to higher energy prices, and impose costs on
users and some suppliers of energy." Raising energy taxes
may never be a good idea, but during a recession it's
just plain dumb.
How bad would it be? The numbers aren't in yet on Kyoto
lite, but when examining the less comprehensive bill
offered by Mr. Lieberman in 2002, the Environmental
Protection Agency forecast that the bill would raise
electricity prices in 2015 by between 32 percent and 50
percent, while the Energy Information Administration
concluded it would reduce GDP by eight-tenths of 1
percent in 2007, or about $100 billion with a loss of
about 1 million jobs. Whatever the cause of the Earth's
current warming trend, the McCain/Lieberman bill will not
reduce the threat of global warming. It will, however,
make a bad economic situation worse.
67) A GREENER BUSH
The Economist
February 13, 2003
Internet:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_i
d=1576767
George Bush deserves praise for his recent environmental
moves—but he could be bolder still.
“THE American way of life is not up for negotiation.”
That was the stance struck by the elder George Bush at
the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. He was
responding to the thousands of green, anti-capitalist and
other activists who were claiming that the United States,
then as now the world's biggest energy consumer, was also
its biggest polluter. That makes it all the more striking
that his son has just proposed environmental policies
that, he says, will “fundamentally alter the American way
of life in a positive way.”
In recent days, Mr Bush has unveiled a vision of a clean-
energy future based on two ideas: promoting hydrogen and
constraining carbon. His administration has declared its
unqualified support for a shift from the internal
combustion engine to fuel cells, which use hydrogen to
produce energy without harmful emissions. And this week
it gathered a group of industrialists in Washington to
declare their support for Mr Bush's policy of pursuing
voluntary cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases as a way
of responding to climate change.
Mistrustful environmental groups immediately denounced
both policies as chicanery. By talking up a hydrogen
future that may be many years away, they argued, the
president was seeking to distract attention from short-
term measures, such as the corporate average fuel economy
(CAFE) law that dictates car fuel-efficiency standards.
They point accusingly at the fact that Mr Bush's vision
of hydrogen energy allows the continued use of fossil
fuels such as coal—albeit in a cleaner way, by
“sequestering” the carbon emissions—and at the support he
has received from the oil and car industries. As for
climate change, they insist that Mr Bush, who summarily
rejected the Kyoto Protocol two years ago, cannot be
trusted to push his industrial friends into accepting
enough voluntary cuts to make much difference to
America's rising emissions of greenhouse gases.
OUTFLANKING THE GREENS
The environmentalists are wrong to be so sceptical. Mr
Bush is unlikely ever to be a born-again green—or so we
must hope—but there is no reason to dismiss his ideas for
a shift to clean hydrogen just because car and oil
companies may benefit. Their support is necessary if
hydrogen is ever to take off. The shift from internal
combustion engines to hydrogen fuel cells envisaged by Mr
Bush could eventually lead, in the words of a senior
administration official, to a “low-carbon energy system”
in America. Moving away from CAFE would be welcome in
itself: it is an overly bureaucratic, inefficient law
whose objectives would be better achieved through the tax
system. So far as climate change is concerned, economical
cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions are surely to be
welcomed, notwithstanding the continuing controversy over
the urgency of tackling the problem.
Even so, if Mr Bush is to burnish his green credentials,
he needs to do more to turn fine visions into practical
actions. He has given a glimpse of the right strategy by
declaring that “we have a chance to move beyond
the...command and control era of environmental policy,
where all wisdom seemed to emanate out of Washington,
DC...we can move beyond that through technology.” He is
spot on in denouncing an overly centralised approach to
greenery, and in pushing instead for market-based
solutions. The success of pollution taxes in Europe and
of emissions-trading systems for sulphur dioxide in
America show that these are a far better way of
encouraging innovation than technology mandates or direct
subsidies.
On hydrogen, Mr Bush has offered much talk and $1.2
billion in public money. That is unlikely to be enough to
spur industries with hundreds of billions of dollars in
sunk assets to think of shifting to hydrogen—especially
when petrol is so cheap. On climate change, his
insistence on a voluntary approach alone runs counter to
the experience of the past decade, when greenhouse-gas
emissions have continued to rise despite a string of
voluntary initiatives to reduce them. The best way
forward, on fuel cells as on climate, would be through
the use of taxes. A higher petrol tax, or better still a
tax on all carbon emissions, would mean that the full
cost to the environment and human health from the use of
petrol (and other fossil fuels) was reflected in the
price. Unlike the CAFE law or any other central target,
taxes of this kind would encourage the development of
cleaner energy without biasing energy users in favour of
any specific technologies or energy sources. Best of all,
Mr Bush could use the extra revenues to finance tax cuts
elsewhere, or to trim looming budget deficits. An
intelligent green policy that improves America's fiscal
position—now that really would be visionary.
68) STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT (US)
Office of the Press Secretary
February 12, 2003
Internet:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030212.
html
The United States is taking prudent steps to address the
long-term challenge of global climate change. We are
reducing projected greenhouse gas emissions in the near
term, while devoting greater resources to improving
climate change science and developing advanced energy
technologies. America has already made great progress in
this effort: Between 1990 and 2001, industrial sector
emissions were held constant, while our economy grew by
almost 40 percent. Sustaining and accelerating this
progress will help us meet our goal of reducing the
greenhouse gas intensity of the American economy by 18
percent by 2012. A year ago, I challenged American
businesses to develop new, voluntary initiatives to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I am pleased to announce
today that 12 major industrial sectors, and the
membership of the Business Roundtable, have responded
with ambitious commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions in the coming decade.
America's electric utilities; petroleum refiners and
natural gas producers; chemical, automotive, magnesium,
iron and steel manufacturers; forest and paper producers;
railroads; the mining, cement, aluminum and semiconductor
industries; and many of America's leading corporations
have committed to actions that will prevent millions of
tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decade. I
commend these initiatives which will help these
businesses and industries continue to improve their
energy efficiency and overall productivity, while
contributing toward achieving our goal to reduce the
greenhouse gas intensity of the American economy.
As I said last year, every sector of the economy will
need to contribute to our efforts to achieve our
ambitious national goal. These initiatives are a first
step in what we expect to be an ongoing engagement with
these and other sectors of our economy in the years
ahead. Underpinning our approach to climate change is an
understanding that meeting this long-term challenge
requires policies that recognize that sustained economic
growth is an essential part of the solution. Policies
that undermine the health of our economy would only
hamper America's ability to develop and deploy new energy
technologies and invest in energy efficiency and
productivity improvements. The United States is the
world's leader in technological development, industrial
productivity, and environmental quality. These strengths
make possible the initiatives that have been announced
today to reduce or capture and store greenhouse gas
emissions
69) WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE?
Time
February 7, 2003
Internet:
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/linden/article/0,9565,
420539,00.html
The Bush administration, so warlike in response to
terrorism, has revealed a pacifist streak in its approach
to the threat of climate change. At meetings on the Kyoto
Treaty last fall in New Delhi, U.S. delegates argued that
we ought to be thinking about adapting to changing
climate. The administration's position seems to have gone
from doubt about the science of climate change to
suggesting it is inevitable without ever acknowledging
that the nation might take steps to avert the threat. The
new position is a clever one: By leaving moot the
question of cause, and by implying that no one could have
done anything about it, the administration also implies
that no one is responsible. The administration
underscored its genial "no fault" approach when it
recently asked industry to voluntarily reduce emissions.
Nice try, but don't be surprised if there are few takers
for this line of reasoning. As the costs of climate
change become more obvious in everything from lost crops
to wrecked real estate, victims will begin pointing
fingers and businesses will begin diving for cover. John
Dutton, dean emeritus of the Penn State's College of
Earth and Mineral Sciences, estimates that $2.7 trillion
of the $10 trillion U.S. economy is susceptible to
weather-related loss of revenue, meaning that an enormous
number of companies have "off balance sheet" risks
related to climate. This could wound corporate America in
a lot of ways, particularly as insurance companies
discover this new area of risk.
Most policies covering natural disasters are renewable on
a yearly basis. When risks become too expensive, insurers
can simply walk away. Something like this happened after
the Sept. 11 attacks. Insurers suddenly realized that
they had vastly underpriced the risk of terrorist attacks
and stopped writing new policies. This brought many big
construction projects to a standstill until President
Bush signed a bill in Nov. that shifted responsibility
for $100 billion of future terrorism-related losses from
insurers to the taxpayers. If climate change starts
inflicting losses, insurers will again head for the
exits. Just such insurer flight has already caused
problems in North Carolina's Outer Banks and in parts of
New York's fabled Hamptons, where coastal storms are
eating up homes and businesses. When insurance companies
quit these high-risk places, the burden shifts to banks.
But they don't have the same freedom simply to cancel
mortgages and loans. What will happen to the markets if
banks start demanding insurance for weather-related
events that is either prohibitively expensive or
completely unavailable?
The climate change threat that will really get the
attention of executives and boardmembers, however, is the
possibility that they might be liable for damages. This
could happen if insurers like financial giant SwissRe
start changing the insurance policies that insulate
directors and officers (called D&O insurance) from the
costs of lawsuits resulting from the actions of their
corporations. Businesses open themselves to lawsuits when
they take a position contrary to others in their
industry, and in recent cases such as asbestos
litigation, courts have assessed damages proportionate to
a company's contribution to a problem. Chris Walker of
Swiss Re describes how this might come about with regard
to climate change. He notes that energy giant Exxon/Mobil
accounts for roughly 1% of global emissions, and has
aggressively lobbied against any efforts to reduce
greenhouse gasses. "So," says Walker, "we might then go
to them and say, 'Since you don't think climate change is
a problem, we're sure you won't mind if we exclude
climate related lawsuits and penalties from your D&O
insurance.'" Swiss Re recently set the stage for such
action by sending a questionnaire to its D&O customers
inquiring about their company's strategy to deal with
climate change regulations.
Some climate change regulation seems to be coming,
whether the federal government acts or not. States such
as New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York are following
the lead of California, imposing their own limits on
greenhouse gases and presenting businesses with the
prospect of a crazy quilt of regulations. Various state
attorneys general are going further, exploring ways they
might sue companies for climate change-related damages.
And if the Kyoto Treaty comes into force, as now seems
likely this spring, countries might similarly seek trade
sanctions against the U.S. for its unwillingness to abide
by its terms. Faced with the prospect of class-action
lawsuits, states that take a "roll your own" approach,
and trade sanctions, many of those executives who are
opposed to the Kyoto Treaty might begin to rethink their
position, and the Bush administration might find itself
abandoned by its ostensible allies. For corporate
executives pondering climate change, threats to the
wallet may prove far more persuasive than science.
70) A MATTER OF CHOICE, NOT DESTINY by Md. Asadullah Khan
Daily Star
February 7, 2003
Internet:
http://www.dailystarnews.com/200302/07/n3020709.htm#BODY10
Md. Asadullah Khan taught physics and is now controller
of examinations at the Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology (BUET).
DANGERS that seemed exaggerated and distant even a decade
ago -- global warming, ozone depletion, desertification,
and extreme weather conditions -- are now at our
doorsteps. Water vapour and carbon dioxide trap infrared
radiation in the atmosphere, warming the world. Water
vapour accounts for nearly 98 per cent of the warming,
without which the Earth would have been 61 degrees
Fahrenheit colder. Carbon dioxide, emanating mainly from
combustion of fossil fuels, accounts for the rest more or
less. However, fiddling with that two per cent is like
pushing a long lever: a tiny push can bring about
enormous changes.
Concentration of carbon dioxide has risen about 280 parts
per million before the Industrial Revolution to 360PPM
today. The world has warmed about one degree Fahrenheit
over the last century and oceans have risen four to 10
inches. Century-to-century variability has seldom been
this high over the last ten millennia. According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], sea
levels will rise six to 37 inches more by 2100, which
means low-lying areas such as Bangladesh coastal region,
Maldives, Mumbai and Gujarat coastlines in India, and
even parts of the United States will go under water. With
drastic changes in global weather patterns, vector-borne
diseases will increase, affecting agriculture, livestock
and fisheries.
Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for a century on
average: gas from the coal that warmed the Americans some
100 years back could be still up there. Even if we stop
burning coal, oil and natural gas right now, the world
would still continue to get warmer. Stabilising emissions
does not stabilise climate, as long as the gases keep
rising, even at current rates. So, to stay on "an
environmentally benign course we need to reduce emissions
1 to 2 per cent per year for the next century. If we
don't start now, we will have to cut 3 to 4 per cent per
year", which would be even more daunting, says
atmospheric physicist Michael Oppenheimer of the
Environmental Defence Fund [EDF]. So, how do we strike
the balance? Just look closely at the nature. There is no
waste in the natural system: the same materials have been
recycled for billions of years. All we have to do is to
relearn the lessons.
BASF Corp's carpet fibre unit has developed a recyclable
nylon that makes it possible to reconstitute old carpets
into new. Swiss semiconductor maker ST Microelectronics
has saved more than $60 million by cutting its energy
usage and $20 million by reducing water consumption below
baselines set in 1994. The company issued some
environmental goals and empowered its divisions to become
creative: the responses include using solar power and
finding ways to recycle water. Cargill Dow, a joint
venture by agricultural giant Cargill and chemical
company Dow, is manufacturing biodegradable and
recyclable plastics from corn sugars. The company already
makes environmentally friendly packaging for Sony
products and pillow stuffing for Pacific Coast Feather.
McDonalds, it is learnt, has stopped buying chicken
treated with "Cipro-like antibiotics" and Nike has begun
stripping toxins from its shoes.
The key to sustainability is to make the market work for,
and not against, the environment. For too long capitalism
has not put a proper value on the services nature
provides, such as water supply and climate control, nor
has it accurately assessed the costs of the damage
industry can do to the environment. But putting a larger
price tag on pollution can alter the behaviour.
Anticipating the global movement to combat climate
change, British Oil giant BP decided in 1997 to reduce
its carbon emissions to 10 per cent below 1990 levels by
the year 2010. In the year 2001 report by Baxter
International, a Deer field, Illinois, medical products
maker detailed how reductions in energy, water use,
improved wastes disposal and recycling over the past
seven years cut costs by $53 million. The savings
amounted to nearly 10 per cent of its 2001 net income.
Since fossil fuels are heating up the earth, the race is
to develop cool alternatives. Experts say wind could
provide up to 12 per cent of the Earth's electricity
within two decades. Reports have it that wind farms in
Texas, Oregon and Kansas have helped the US wind-energy
output to 66 per cent last year and an additional $3
billion in American projects are in the pipeline. BP is
building a $100 million solar plant in Spain. How soon we
reach an era of clean, inexhaustible energy depends on
technology. Solar and wind energies are intermittent:
when the sky is cloudy or the breeze dies down, fossil
fuel or nuclear plants must kick in to compensate. But
scientists are working on better ways to store
electricity from renewable sources.
Current from wind, solar or geothermal energy can be used
to extract hydrogen from water molecules. In the future,
hydrogen could be stored in tanks, and when energy is
needed, the gas could be run through a fuel cell, a
device that combines hydrogen with oxygen. The result:
pollution-free electricity, with water as the only by-
product. Already fuel-cell buses, cars and small
generators are being tested. Eventually, some visionaries
say, fuel cells placed in individual buildings could
replace many of today's giant electric plants. But that
will not happen unless the technology is refined and the
cost drops.
While the developed nations debate how to fuel their
power plants, however, some 1.6 billion people -- a
quarter of the globe's population -- have no access to
electricity or gasoline. They cannot refrigerate food or
medicine, pump well water, power a tractor, make a phone
call or turn on an electric light to do homework. Many
spend their days collecting firewood and cow dung,
burning it in primitive stoves that belch smoke into
their lungs. To emerge from poverty, they need modern
energy. And renewables can help, from village-scale
hydropower to household photovoltaic system to bio-gas
stoves that convert dung into fuel. More than a million
rural homes in developing countries get electricity from
solar cells. Ultimately, the earth can meet its energy
needs without fouling the environment. "But it won't
happen," asserts Thomas Johansson, an energy advisor to
the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], "without
the political will". To begin with widespread government
subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy --
estimated at some $150 billion per year -- must be
dismantled to level the playing field for renewables.
Policymakers must factor in the price of pollution: coal
plants are more expensive than renewable power when one
includes the cost of scrubbers on smokestacks and the
expense of healthcare for coal-related illnesses.
Environmentalists are calling for taxes on carbon to slow
the growth of fossil-fuel use.
Another way to increase renewables' share of the energy
mix is to reduce the use of conventional fuel through
efficiency incentives. Experts believe that efficiency
could slash the globe's projected energy consumption by a
third. Strict standards can cut energy use in everything
from air conditioners to cars. Compact fluorescent lamps
use a quarter of the electricity of incandescent bulbs to
provide the same amount of light. The European Union, for
instance, requires its members to boost electricity from
renewables to 22 per cent of production within the next
eight years. On the road to enlightened energy policy, a
few countries offer models of reform.
More than a decade ago, Denmark required utilities to
purchase any available renewable energy and pay a premium
price; today the country gets 18 per cent of its
electricity from wind. Thanks largely to Germany and
Spain, which have enacted vigorous incentives for
renewables, Europe today accounts for 70 per cent of the
world's wind power. In Japan 80,000 households have
installed solar roof panels since the government offered
generous subsidies in 1994; consequently. Japan has
displaced the US as the world's leading manufacturer of
photovoltaics. India established a fund that has lent
$1.1 billion to alternative-energy projects; the country
is now the globe's fifth largest generator of wind and
solar power. Iceland, which lies on a hotbed of
underground volcanic activity, uses that geothermal
energy to heat 90 per cent of its buildings. The island
nation is planning to use geothermal and hydroelectric
power to produce large amounts of hydrogen, creating the
world's first hydrogen economy.
Global energy demand is expected to triple by mid-
century. The earth is unlikely to run out of fossil fuels
by then, given its vast reserves, of coal, but it seems
unthinkable that we will continue to use them as we do
now, for nearly 80 per cent of our energy. The world has
gradually moved toward cleaner fuels -- from wood to
coal, from coal to oil and from oil to natural gas.
Renewables are the next step. Royal Dutch/Shell has
pledged to spend up to $1 billion on renewables through
the next five years. Japanese manufacturers, led by Sharp
and Kyocera, have moved aggressively into photovoltaic
cells, which turn sunlight into electricity. Such
examples show that the future "is more a matter of choice
than destiny", says Brazilian physicist José Goldemberg,
chairman of a recent United Nations energy study.
71) UNITED STATES AND EUROPEAN UNION JOINT MEETING ON
CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
US State Department
February 7, 2003
Internet: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2003/17493.htm
“The United States and European Union convened the first
bilateral “U.S.-EU Joint Meeting on Climate Change
Science and Technology Research” in Washington on
February 5-6, 2003, following an invitation from Under
Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky to
European Commission Research Commissioner Philippe
Busquin. The meeting was conducted under the April 23,
2002 agreement of representatives to the U.S.-EU High
Level Dialogue on Climate Change to enhance cooperation
on climate-related science and research.
The respective delegations were led by Dr. Harlan Watson,
Senior Climate Negotiator and Special Representative of
the Department of State for the U.S. side, and by Dr.
Anver Ghazi, Head, Global Change Unit of the European
Commission Research Directorate-General for the European
side.
The U.S. delegation included representatives from the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, U.S.
Climate Change Science Program Office, U.S. Department of
Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of State,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National
Science Foundation, and U.S. Agency for International
Development. The European Union delegation included
representatives from the European Commission Research
Directorate-General, selected research experts from
European Union Member States, and the Delegation of the
European Commission to the United States.
The two sides identified cooperative research activities
in six areas: (1) carbon cycle research; (2) aerosol-
climate interactions; (3) feedbacks, water vapor and
thermohaline circulation; (4) integrated observation
systems and data; (5) carbon capture and storage; and (6)
hydrogen technology and infrastructure. Specific topics
of potential cooperation in each area are identified in
an annex to this statement available at:
www.state.gov/g/oes/climate/.
The two sides agreed to designate points of contact to
coordinate the development of specific research
activities and modalities of cooperation and to monitor
the progress of these activities, building on existing
cooperative arrangements wherever possible.
The two sides further agreed to review the progress of
their cooperation at the next Joint Meeting, which could
take place in Italy later this year. Additional topics to
be considered then are abrupt climate change including
critical thresholds, integrated assessment of mitigation
and adaptation options, linkages between climate change
management and energy systems transformations, and
capacity building for strengthening the involvement of
developing countries and young scientists in climate
change research and monitoring.”
End Text.
ANNEX—United States and European Union Joint Meeting on
Climate Change Science and Technology Research: Specific
Topics of Potential Cooperation
The United States and European Union identified
cooperative research activities in the six areas at the
first bilateral “U.S.-EU Joint Meeting on Climate Change
Science and Technology Research” held in Washington on
February 5-6, 2003: (1) carbon cycle research; (2)
aerosol-climate interactions; (3) feedbacks, water vapor
and thermohaline circulation; (4) integrated observation
systems and data; (5) carbon capture and storage; and (6)
hydrogen technology and infrastructure. Other non-
greenhouse gas emitting energy sources (e.g., nuclear
energy, renewable energies), although not discussed in
detail, were mentioned as worthy for cooperation in
future discussions. Specific topics of potential
cooperation in each area include the following:
CARBON CYCLE RESEARCH
1. Define and implement an integrated and optimized
carbon observing system over the atmosphere, land, and
oceans, with special emphasis on the carbon budget of
North America, Europe, and the North Atlantic region;
2. Coordinate efforts in modeling (future projections,
assimilation methods, and analysis of past changes)
integration, interpretation, and future data acquisition
strategies;
3. Enhance georeferenced carbon cycle data availability
and quality; and
4. Develop common assessment methods and state-of-the-art
reports.
AEROSOL-CLIMATE INTERACTIONS
1. Perform studies of aerosols, their influence on
clouds, climate, and links to the water cycle in
sensitive regions (hot spots) that are strongly affected
by anthropogenic emissions (South and East Asia, and the
Mediterranean);
2. Improve emission data sets of reactive gases and
aerosols from anthropogenic and biomass burning sources;
3. Perform studies on intercontinental transport and
chemical transformation of anthropogenic emissions that
affect climate and air quality;
4. Advance integrated global/regional earth system
modeling to study feedback mechanisms and develop
mitigation and adaptation strategies; and
5. Further satellite observations of reactive gases and
aerosols and down-scaling through in situ and remote
sensing measurements in anchor stations.
FEEDBACKS AND CLIMATE SENSITIVITY
1. Improve representations of cloud feedbacks in coupled
climate models through participation in the Cloud
Feedbacks Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP); 2. Begin
to quantify and reduce uncertainty in model
predictions through joint work on ensemble approaches to
integrated climate change scenarios; and
3. Maintain and enhance participation in joint research
on thermohaline circulation
INTEGRATED OBSERVATION SYSTEMS AND DATA
1. Cooperate, within existing international frameworks,
to plan and develop the integrated observation systems
required to provide the data needed for climate change
research;
2. Continue with efforts to combine satellite and in situ
global observations that are essential to detect climate
change and improve evolving climate models, especially to
encourage expanded involvement of developing countries to
fill gaps in existing databases;
3. Encourage and further improve the sharing and
archiving of climate data and the design of common
standards and formats; and
4. Encourage the widest possible participation in the
Earth Observation Summit in July 2003 and prepare for
appropriate follow-up.
CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE
1. Identify potential areas of collaboration on carbon
capture and storage;
2. Foster collaborative research and development
projects;
3. Identify opportunities to discuss the perspectives of
governments and other key stakeholders; and 4. Discuss
planning, including research and development, for large
integrated sequestration and energy plant projects.
HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
1. Development of international codes and standards
including testing and certification; 2. Pre-competitive
research and development on critical enabling
technologies including: polymer electrolyte membrane
(PEM) fuel cells, non-precious metal catalysts, high
temperature membranes, solid oxide fuel cells, hydrogen
storage concepts (e.g., carbon nanostructures and complex
metal hydrides), refueling technologies and procedures,
and hydrogen production;
3. Data exchange on hydrogen energy technology and fuel
cells; and
4. Benchmarking of development and deployment strategies
for hydrogen energy technologies and fuel cells.
72) OUTSIDE VIEW: THE ROAD FROM KYOTO by Michael Renner
UPI
February 6, 2003
Internet: http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030204-
075041-1592r
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- As discussion about the
looming war in Iraq intensifies in the wake of George
Bush's State of the Union address, one item conspicuously
absent from news bulletins and pundits' pontifications is
the Kyoto protocol. Kyoto, you say? What do halting
efforts to address the growing threat of climate change
have to do with the high-stakes confrontation between
presidents George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein?
The common element, of course, is oil. Bush and other
U.S. officials may insist that their concern lies with
weapons of mass destruction, human rights, democratic
governance, and the like. Energy questions and Iraq were
addressed as though utterly unrelated in the State of the
Union speech. But, surprise, Iraq sits atop an ocean of
cheap oil. The current administration has staked out an
energy policy that is predicated on a huge increase -- at
least one-third over the next two decades -- in U.S. oil
consumption. Where will that oil come from? While
strenuous efforts are under way to unlock deposits of
black gold in the far corners of the earth, the Middle
East remains key.
Iraq has the largest unexplored reserves in the region,
possibly even topping Saudi Arabia in total recoverable
oil. Needless to say, a policy that aims at a major
expansion of oil and fossil fuels is fundamentally at
odds with the spirit of Kyoto. The protocol, named after
the Japanese city where negotiations took place in 1997,
was cobbled together with the expectation that it was
going to be a first step toward a climate-responsible
energy policy. Industrial countries are supposed to cut
their carbon emissions by 5 percent from 1990 levels no
later than 2012. Even more substantial reductions,
including action by developing nations are needed if,
some predict, a disastrous heating of the planet is to be
avoided.
Bush denounced the Kyoto protocol, refusing to commit the
United States to its terms. Voluntary measures, announced
by the administration with great fanfare in February
2002, may be more effective in staving off mandatory
action by Congress and state governments than in
preventing continued emissions growth. Already, U.S.
carbon emissions have climbed 18 percent above 1990
levels. And the Energy Information Administration's
International Energy Outlook 2002 projects emissions to
grow by 33-46 percent over the next two decades. The
struggle over climate policy, pitting the United States
primarily against Europe, is in large measure one over
the nature of the economy of the future.
Will it rely on the same old energy sources that pollute
the air we breathe, and, according to some analyses,
generate acid rain calamitous to lakes and forests, and
commit humanity to a game of atmospheric Russian
roulette? Will it condemn the world to repeated wars and
human rights violations over oil? Or will it be
characterized by far more efficient and intelligent ways
of using energy? Will it unleash innovative technologies
that not only harness the power of the sun and the wind,
but generate large numbers of new jobs? It is a question
of life and death, not just for ordinary Iraqis who may
find themselves on the frontlines of a shooting war, but
ultimately for the entire planet. The battle over Iraq's
oil, if it comes, is only one episode in a figurative war
-- the ongoing broader assault on the Earth's ecological
balance.To an extent unrivaled by any other nation on
earth, the United States is addicted to oil. More than a
mere toxicant, oil is like oxygen to the United States.
Americans drive SUVs in the name of individual freedom
and regard unlimited consumption as their birthright.
Public policy actively nurtures and subsidizes these
guzzling habits. Representing a mere 5 percent of global
population, the United States claims 26 percent of the
world's oil use.
Predicated on massive flows of cheap oil, the U.S.
economy remains far less energy efficient than those of
competitors in Europe and Japan. The country has gone to
great lengths to maintain its domination over world oil -
- by propping up its clients in oil-exporting nations
with arms and credits, overthrowing or marginalizing
those that stand in the way, influencing the routing of
oil export pipelines, and exercising undisputed control
over the sea-lanes through which much of the world's oil
is shipped. An Iraq that is in desperate need to rebuild
a starved and shattered country, and favorably disposed
toward U.S. interests, can be expected to open the oil
spigot wide as soon as its facilities are repaired. A
U.S. government task force has reportedly been consulting
with industry representatives and Iraqi opposition
figures on ways to achieve just that outcome. It may take
some years, a rehabilitated Iraq is capable of flooding
world oil markets, driving prices lower than they have
been in many years.
Sustained low prices would critically undermine the
fledgling efforts to build wind, solar, and hydrogen
industries, kick away the economic incentive to use
energy more prudently, and effectively destroy the Kyoto
protocol. Wind power in particular has come a long way,
growing by more than 30 percent annually in recent years
and now cost-competitive with most conventional sources
of energy. Such advances could fall victim to
artificially cheap oil -- a fuel whose considerable
ecological and security costs are not properly accounted
for. This is by no means an inevitable scenario. Just as
it is possible that weapons inspections and determined
global opposition to warmongering, can yet avert an
invasion of Iraq, there is no reason why the United
States cannot face up to its oil addiction. Neither is
likely to happen in the absence of an informed, vocal
public that demands an alternative approach to matters of
war and peace and the environment.
73) WITH 2002 BEHIND US, IT'S TIME FOR OUR ANNUAL
ASSESSMENT OF THE TOP CLIMATE CHANGE STORIES OF THE YEAR
by Leonie Haimson
Grist
January 31, 2003
Internet:
http://www.gristmagazine.com/heatbeat/thisjustin013103.asp
Leonie Haimson has penned a chapter for the book Climate
Change Policy, edited Common Questions on Climate Change
for the U.N. Environment Programme, and coauthored The
Way Things Really Are: Debunking Rush Limbaugh on the
Environment for Environmental Defense. She lives with her
husband and two children in New York City, where she also
works as a public school advocate.
1. KYOTO GOES (ALMOST) GLOBAL
The biggest climate story of last year was undoubtedly
the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by nearly every
industrial nation in the world. The process started
slowly with Iceland, Norway, and the E.U. nations in May,
followed by Japan in June, and thereafter most of Eastern
Europe. The end of the year saw a rush of new
signatories, including Canada, Poland, and New Zealand,
leaving the United States and Australia isolated as the
only two nations in the world still opposing the treaty.
Barring a major change in government, both nations appear
unlikely to change their positions.
Meanwhile, more than 70 countries of the developing world
have also ratified, including China, India, and Brazil.
However, developing nations presently have no
quantitative commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Before
the treaty can take effect, two major conditions must be
met. First, a minimum of 55 countries have to endorse the
agreement. This condition has already been fulfilled:
According to Climate Action Network Europe's invaluable
website, a total of 102 countries had ratified or acceded
to the treaty by the beginning of this year. (Download
this list for the complete info.)
The second major condition is that the treaty must be
ratified by countries responsible for 55 percent of 1990
carbon dioxide emissions from the industrialized world.
So far, the industrialized nations that have signed
account for 43.9 percent of 1990 levels. With Russia
(which is responsible for 17.4 percent of 1990 emissions)
having recently reaffirmed its intention to ratify in the
near future, expect this final, crucial step to happen
this year. That the rest of the world went ahead with
Kyoto despite the non-participation of the United States
came as a surprise to many commentators -- some of whom
had even argued that Europeans were eager to ditch the
agreement and would use U.S. opposition as an excuse to
do so. Prominent journalist Gregg Easterbrook even
claimed in the New York Times that the odds against the
Europeans signing were "a million-to-one." But in fact,
the world did what was both right and necessary -- and to
our shame, they did it without us. The political
leadership in Europe and Japan, along with environmental
organizations in these countries, deserve the lion's
share of the credit. Let's hope they now put as much
effort into devising incentives, both positive and
negative, to bring the U.S. back to the negotiating
table.
2. WACKY WEATHER CONTINUES
As political momentum to combat climate change grows,
weird weather continues: The year 2002 turned out to be
the second-warmest year after 1998, with global
temperatures averaging 0.56 degrees Celsius (1.01degrees
Fahrenheit) above the long-term mean from 1880 to 2001.
Last year was the 25th consecutive year of above-average
temperatures. Surface temperatures have risen nearly 0.6
degrees Celsius (1.1 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past
century, and the speed of the warming has increased
dramatically over the last 25 years, approaching 2.0
degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) per century.
Notable weather events during 2002 included a severe heat
wave during May and June across southwestern Asia, with
temperatures reaching as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122
degrees Fahrenheit), resulting in more than 1,000 deaths
across India and Pakistan. Other extreme events included
torrential rains and flooding in Asia and Central Europe,
some of the worst smog ever to hit China and Hong Kong,
and scores of forest fires in Russia, the western U.S.,
and Australia, which came close to igniting the cities of
Moscow, Denver, and Sydney, respectively. Most recently,
the worst drought to afflict Australia in nearly a
century has been linked to the warming trend (CNN.com,
Reuters, 14 Jan 2003).
Some experts predict that 2003 will be another record-
breaking year, with temperatures equaling or surpassing
those in 1998, when there was an El Nino similar to the
current one. Scientists at Britain's Hadley Center for
Climate Prediction and Research have reckoned this at
even odds, while James Hansen, the director of the
Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has put the
likelihood even higher, according to the New York Times.
3. GLACIERS AND ICE MELT AT ALARMING RATES
The global temperature data masks even more significant
warming in specific areas, such as in the polar regions
and high latitudes. In 2002, extremely warm temperatures
contributed to the greatest surface melt of the Greenland
Ice Sheet in the 24-year satellite record. There was also
a record low of observed sea ice in the Arctic, where
temperatures during the summer of 2002 were unusually
warm, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
In Antarctica, where average temperatures have risen
about 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 50 years, a
Rhode Island-sized chunk of ice weighing approximately
500 billion tons fell off the Larsen B ice shelf into the
sea.
Nor have the tropics gone unaffected. Scientific studies
show an unprecedented rate of ice melt atop Mount
Kilimanjaro, whose glaciers are expected to disappear
entirely by 2020. (See a related Grist story.) In the
Himalayas, the Alps, and Alaska, thousands of glaciers
are rapidly disappearing. If present trends continue,
Glacier National Park in Montana is expected to be
entirely glacier-free within 50 years. More recently, it
was noted that the world is actually changing shape and
becoming more "oblate" due to all the melting. The loss
of ice sheets and glaciers is expected to have
deleterious effects in terms of global sea level rise,
flooding, and the loss of freshwater supplies in many
parts of the world.
4. CALIFORNIA SAVES THE DAY
The only really encouraging U.S. political development
this year happened over the summer in California, where
the state legislature passed a measure that would limit
carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. Gov. Gray
Davis (D) signed the bill shortly thereafter. The auto
companies, which put up a fierce battle to defeat the
bill, are expected to go challenge it in court, claiming
it conflicts with laws giving the federal government the
right to regulate auto efficiency.
The legislation, if enacted, would direct the California
Air Resources Board to develop a plan by 2005 requiring
all vehicles sold in the state to exhibit "maximum
feasible reduction" in greenhouse emissions. The
regulations would not take effect until 2009; still, they
would force the U.S. auto industry to market improved
models, because about 10 percent of all cars purchased in
this country are sold in California. This exciting
development contrasts with the gridlock on the federal
level, where the overall efficiency of the U.S. fleet
remains at a 20-year low. In December, the Bush
administration approved a meager 1.5 mile-per-gallon
increase in fuel economy standards for SUVs, trucks, and
minivans by 2005, after having worked to defeat a much
tougher congressional measure in March that would have
increased overall auto efficiency by 50 percent.
5. HYBRID CARS GET A GLAMOUR BOOST
Meanwhile, fuel efficiency has become something of a
cause celebre among the glitterati. From the Rolling
Stones/Natural Resources Defense Council global warming
concert scheduled for Feb. 6 in Los Angeles, to the anti-
SUV ad campaign sponsored by Arianna Huffington and
Laurie David (wife of writer-comedian Larry David) to the
growing popularity of the hybrid Toyota Prius among movie
stars, Hollywood and the music industry now appear to be
leading the charge for U.S. action on climate change and
energy efficiency.
In particular, the incendiary anti-SUV ads, which link
the gas-guzzling vehicles to terrorism in the Middle
East, have garnered a huge amount of media attention even
though they have not yet been broadcast. (You can see
them or contribute funds towards their media buy on
Huffington's website.) Perhaps the most encouraging
aspect of this trend is the number of Toyoto Prius owners
among the movie crowd, who talk up their love for the
efficient if slightly awkward-looking cars, and by
association, even make them seem glamorous. Larry David
bought three, including one for his character to drive on
his HBO series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." "It works on
every level," says David. "I'm doing something good, and
my wife has sex with me more often" (Washington Post, 6
Jun 2002).
According to Toyota, the car has been purchased by a
dazzling list of stars, including Cameron Diaz, Donny
Osmond, Ted Danson, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonardo DiCaprio,
who has bought four for himself and other members of his
family. (For a longer list, including some prominent
politicians and environmentalists, see Toyota's website.)
Still, the hybrid's sales are dwarfed by the massive
popularity of SUVs. Toyota has sold only about 40,000
Priuses in the U.S. since their introduction in July
2000, although sales last year rose 33 percent over the
year before. Honda has its own, less glamorous hybrid
version of the Civic, and a company spokesperson says the
company's selling about 2,000 of the hybrid cars per
month: "The Prius may be more for the Hollywood crowd.
We're drawing more the typical Honda customer" (AutoWeek
online, 22 Jan 2003).
Signs of an anti-celebrity backlash have already
appeared, including an opinion piece by David Brooks in
the Wall Street Journal, who said all the criticism of
the SUV may lead him to purchase one for the first time,
and dubiously claimed that getting one is "a way to
connect imaginatively with a more inspiring life than the
one you actually lead" (Wall Street Journal, 21 Jan
2003). Soon, American consumers may have the opportunity
to combine their love for the hulking SUV with the rising
popularity of the more environmentally-correct hybrid.
Toyota will have a hybrid SUV for sale within two years;
Toyota's ambitious plans also include fuel-cell and
hydrogen-powered vehicles (New York Times, 26 Jan 2003).
General Motors has announced plans to offer a full line
of hybrids, from sedans to SUVs, starting in 2004, and
says that it intends to sell up to a million of these
models by 2007 (San Jose Mercury News, 4 Jan 2003). Ford
will introduce a hybrid version of its Escape SUV later
this year that is expected to get 40 to 50 miles per
gallon. Let's hope that the U.S. auto companies are
really interested in selling these vehicles in
substantial numbers, and are not just making the gesture
of offering a few for the sake of good PR. Given their
previous record, a healthy dose of skepticism might be in
order.
74) CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER RESOURCES by John Onu Odihi
Brunei Online
January 31, 2003
Internet: http://www.brunei-
online.com/bb/fri/jan31h30.htm
The author of this article is from the Faculty of Arts &
Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
A woman in burqa and a boy on donkey advance through on a
riverbed without water for last seven years. Vast areas
of the world receive too little rainfall and are
therefore arid or semi-arid. In these areas water is
always in short supply and costs of providing good
quality water may be too high for the state in such
places.Climate change and water resources are two of the
important issues occupying the centre stage of global
environmental and policy agenda over the past decades.
Concerns over them looks certain to continue well into
the new millennium with many experts warning that the
problems could not be arrested easily even if we practice
all the restraints proposed for their mitigation. A
change to a warmer climate would result in the melting of
ice and glaciers that would cause a rise in sea levels
globally.
Also, fresh water pollution caused by intrusion of
seawater would jeopardise supplies of fresh water for
human consumption, industrial and agricultural production
in coastal areas. Furthermore, climate change would be
capable of causing drastic changes and redefining
agricultural belts globally. If and when that happens,
today's breadbaskets (important food producing areas of
the world) could be turned into "agricultural deserts" as
a result of several factors, which include the inability
of crops to cope with climate change-induced temperature
regimes. As more data becomes available, the fears
surrounding climate change particularly the implications
for water resources take on a renewed urgency. Not
withstanding its abundance (about two-thirds of the
earth's surface), water remains an elusive resource
because of its nature and distribution in both space and
time. Only a small quantity of water available at any
time on earth is of fresh nature.
The bulk of water exists as seawater, which cannot be
directly used by humans or in agricultural production.
Also, water is not well distributed around the world. Its
occurrence in time and space does not correspond well to
demand. The bulk of fresh water occurs as glaciers, snow
or ice in areas too far or too cold for humans to reach.
Vast areas of the world receive too little rainfall and
are therefore arid or semi-arid. In these areas, water is
always in short supply and costs of providing good
quality water may be too high for the state in such
places. Centuries of exploitation of underground sources
have resulted in their complete exhaustion or near-
exhaustion in many parts of the world.
Water supply has been a thorny issue in many parts of the
world. A potpourri of factors has been responsible for
water supply even before the scientific community
discovered the problem of climate change. Rising human
populations is a key factor of global concern. The
fundamental nature of the human population problem stems
from the multifarious nature of human dependency on
water. Each baby born exerts a demand pressure on water
supplies through its needs for food (production and
preparation), shelter, sanitation and recreation among
others. Additionally, modernisation or "the good life",
wrongly or rightly defined in materialistic terms as
abundance of one's material acquisition, places much
pressure on water resources. Unfortunately, water
resources remain finite in many places even with today's
technology because of political, technological and
economic feasibility problems.
Not withstanding these problems, demand for water keeps
growing almost everywhere in the world. In poorer areas,
high demands and low supply lead to high mortality rates.
The inadequacy of supply in terms of quantity, quality or
both cause the poor segments of societies in poor
countries to use polluted water. This has led to very
high incidences of enteric or killer diseases such as
diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid among others with their
high tolls on the population of such countries. Water,
which is easily one of the most abundant resources of
nature, has created the phenomenon called "hydropolitics"
(politics over water), and it is frequently a cause of
friction between people divided by a political boundary.
This happens when a water resource such as a river has a
transboundary existence.
The cause of such friction is usually a development
policy or programme that skews benefits and costs across
such a political boundary. One side gets the carrot
(benefits) and another gets the stick or sting of the
development. In many cases more than two countries have a
stake in an international river. Major basins of the
world such as the Amazon, Mekong, Congo, Nile, Niger and
Rhine are international basins. The problem comes when
countries that have a stake in an international river
have different agenda for its development. Parochial
development such as damming or diverting the waters of
international rivers for the benefits of one country is
capable of, and has at one time or another, strained
relationships between countries. Some examples of
unresolved international river issues as recent as the
mid-1990s included those over Rio Grande and Colorado
(USA and Mexico), Eurprates and Tigris (Iraq, Syria and
Turkey) and Nile (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia). Close to
home, the Mekong is a source of friction between
Thailand, Vietnam, Kampuchea and Laos.
The unequivocal importance of water to humans, the widely
accepted idea of climate change and its dire implications
for water resources the world over sum up to the need for
good planning and management of water resources. We
cannot plan well without correct understanding of the
situation. While Brunei Darussalam has yet to experience
major problems with water resources, the impacts of
climate change are of global proportions. It may only be
a matter of time, given the country's coastal location,
for Brunei Darussalam to experience some of the adverse
impacts of climate change such as sea level rise.
75) U.S.-RUSSIAN JOINT STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
DIALOGUE
US State Department
January 17, 2003
Internet:
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/global/climate/03012101.h
tm
Joint Statement of ohe U.S.-Russian Inter-Ministerial
Climate Change Policy Dialogue, Moscow, Russia
"The United States and the Russian Federation agree to
broaden their global climate change cooperation by
promoting a Climate Change Policy Dialogue to intensify
and strengthen their efforts, including through a Climate
Change Working Group to facilitate the Dialogue process.
This Dialogue will involve various ministries and
agencies of the two Parties that are already actively
engaged in the issue.
Through this Dialogue the United States and the Russian
Federation seek to:
* Discuss and exchange information related to climate
change policy and related scientific, technological,
socioeconomic, and legal issues of mutual concern and
interest.
* Explore possible common approaches to addressing
climate change issues before the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, and other relevant international fora.
* Identify and encourage needed climate change science
and technology research that is or could be performed
individually or jointly by United States and Russian
departments, agencies, ministries, and scientific
institutions.
* Benefit from and complement other established bilateral
activities between the two countries.
The United States and the Russian Federation also agree
to cooperate closely in preparing for the World
Conference on Climate Change to be held in Moscow in
2003. The initial meeting of the Climate Change Working
Group will be coordinated by Dr. Harlan Watson, U.S.
Department of State Senior Climate Negotiator and Special
Representative, and by Dr. A.I. Bedritsky, Head of the
Federal Service of Russia for Hydrometeorology and
Environmental Monitoring."